Drifting
by AbaraiSuzuka
Summary: Ichigo has always wanted to be a street racer but he's never had anyone to teach him but after he helps out a girl who injured her head during a race, he asks if she'd be willing to teach him...IchiRuki
1. The Rescue

Hey y'all, been a while! I'm really sorry! I meant to update sooner but my internet's been crashed for quite a while now. I'm now uploading this from my cousin's comp...even though I'm supposed to be babysitting :D

As you might have noticed, this is chapter one. I'm gonna redo Drifting again! But this time I'm gonna just keep it to IchiRuki. Hitsugaya and Karin will make appearances but they won't have any history or much of a relationship. I'm gettin a bit fed up of that pairing, dunno why. So, if y'all read any of my HitsuKarin fics, they're all proobably gonna get discontinued...aside from Irresistible, because the idea of Hitsugaya as a vampire is just too good to give up :D Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo cheered as the black car whizzed by. "All right!" It had been a while since he'd last been on _this_ scene.

He'd only just stumbled through the crowd of spectators to see the faces of the two drivers. The one in the black car (who he apparently supported) was a petite girl with long brown hair who was perhaps no older than he was. The competitor in the blue car was an aggressive-looking man also about Ichigo's age, with blue hair. He didn't know either of them, though he had heard of them girl in passing. Currently, she was at the top of Karakura's drift scene. Her name was Kimura Riko. They called her the Drift Queen.

She held her own against the blue car for a good long while, until shouts began to ripple through the crowd. "Police! Police!" The two competitors should have been able to see the flashing blue and red lights that were headed towards the scene. The race had been set on a hill so it provided a good view of the surrounding roads. A few minutes and the police would be here already. The blue car did a u-turn and raced back and as it did so, it smashed into the back of the black car. The black car skidded and crashed against the railings at the side of the road.

"Shit!" Ichigo cried out, trying to stay in his place as the crowd jostled to escape around him. He had to help that girl out! She wouldn't make it far with the police coming! He turned around and began to run, fishing in his pocket for his car keys as he went.

It was thankful that he'd parked close by. Approximately one and a half minutes passed and he came back to the scene of the accident. The black car was on fire. "What the hell…?" He muttered as he pulled up beside it. The girl was nowhere in sight. The entire road was deserted. The police were just a few blocks away.

He drove his car into a side street and saw the girl walking away lethargically. A small shoulder bag was sitting on her back. She was dressed in a modest plain, knee-length black dress, which was odd because most of the females who involved themselves in the drifting world were usually scantily dressed. Not that he cared. He stopped beside her. "Can I give you a ride?" He asked as he rolled the window down.

She turned to face him and he saw that she was bleeding down the side on the head. "What?"

"Come on! I'm a doctor. I'll help you out. The police are coming!" He pushed the passenger door open and, after a few contemplative seconds, she climbed in. "Thanks."

He didn't ask any questions at first. He just drove as fast as he could. "So, you're the alleged Drift Queen, huh?" He asked conversationally after they had distanced themselves sufficiently from the crime scene.

"Hmm…" she muttered blankly, clutching the side of her head.

"Does your head hurt?" He spared her a glance out of the corner of his eye. He saw something strange so his gaze lingered a little longer than necessary. The brown hair was slipping off. There was black hair underneath.

"Just watch the road, _doctor_." She said irritably.

_Gee, what's with that attitude? I'm helpin ya out here._ He thought sourly. "Are you wearing a wig?" He asked instead.

She fixed it immediately. "What's it to ya?"

"Nothin. Just wondering why someone would wear a wig."

"Just drive, please."

When he spared her another quick glance, her eyes were drooping and her head kept knocking gently against the window. It was a good thing she'd strapped herself in, otherwise she'd have fallen. The shoulder of her dress was getting stained by the blood running down her head. It was worse that he'd thought.

* * *

When Rukia opened her eyes, she was in a hospital bed. Hers was one in a row of five in the room._ Where am I?_ She thought as she sat up. She put a hand to her head and felt bandages. _Oh yeah…the race_…anger welled up in her. Bastard Grimmjow! Busting my car up like that! She couldn't believe it! Because of that asshole, she now owed Urahara the money for _one more_ car! This was unbelievable! If she ever saw that bastard again, she would make him wish he had never been born!

"Tch…" she spotted the shoulder bag that she'd brought to the race with her. It was lying on a chair by the side of the bed, along with her brown wig. _Oh…no,_ she thought with dread. Somebody had seen her without her wig! They would know who she was! This was terrible!

She snatched the bag back and stuck the wig on over her bandages (wincing in pain as she did so). She pulled a mobile phone out of the bag and frantically dialled a number, trying hard to remain calm. It would be all right. There was nothing to worry about. This was all right. _Come on, Rukia, get a hold of yourself_. She took in deep breaths as she put the phone to her ear. Good, Rukia, be calm. That's it. She instructed herself as she continued the breathing exercises. Yes, calm is good…

Someone answered her call. "Hello?"

"OMG, RANGIKU! YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT! I WAS AT THE RACE AND POLICE CAME AND THAT ASSHOLE GRIMMJOW CRASHED INTO ME AND THEN I HAD TO LEAVE THE CAR BEHIND AND THEN SOME ORANGE-HAIRED GUY CAME TO PICK ME UP AND SAID HE WAS A DOCTOR AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HELL I AM!" So much for keeping calm. It felt like that entire sentence came out in one breath.

"Okay, okay, hold on," the voice was a little slurred but calmed her nerves anyway. "The police came and someone crashed your car?"

"YES!"

"I said calm down, Rukia-chan!" The voice of Matsumoto Rangiku reprimanded. "And then you got rescued by someone who claimed to be a doctor?"

"Yeah."

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"I hit my head against the window but that guy patched me up."

Matsumoto's sigh of relief was heard. "All right, lemme get my laptop." There was some shuffling on the other end. Matsumoto would now get her laptop and find out, somehow or other, where Rukia was. She had a knack for these kinds of things, though she didn't appear too bright often because she acted like a bit of a ditz. "Right, gimme some details. What did this guy look like? What car did he have?"

"Bizarre, spiky orange hair, quite tall and he owned a silver Nissan Skyline." Obviously, one of the first things Rukia noticed about people was what kind of cars they owned. The obsession with cars went back a long way.

Her head was getting a little clearer. Matsumoto always managed to calm her down some. She was thankful for that. After all, if she was in a state of panic, how could she possibly act natural if she saw someone? "Orange hair, tall...Nissan Skyline owner...doctor" Rukia could hear the tapping of keys as Matsumoto typed away on the other side. "You get anyone?" She asked.

"Hang on...ah...there's a few results!" Matsumoto said brightly. "There's quite a lot of guys with bleached hair in this town but they're of varying heights and none of them own Nissan Skylines. And there's only one with the title of doctor. Ooh, he's quite cute." Rukia rolled her eyes. "His name is Kurosaki Ichigo. He's twenty-three years of age and he runs the Kurosaki Clinic with his father, who is also a doctor. He and his father live by their clinic with his two unmarried sisters, fraternal twins called Karin and Yuzu, aged nineteen. His mother is deceased. Kurosaki Masaki died when he was about nine. Says here that the guy's rather antisocial and his hair is _naturally_ orange, heh. His likes include cars, Shakespeare and..."

"Okay, okay, so you know the address, right?" Rukia asked impatiently. Sometimes, if no one stopped her, Matsumoto could go on for ages and ages…and Rukia was in a bit of a rush at the moment. As interesting as the guy's background was, she'd rather she was somewhere a little more familiar.

"Yes. I should be there in about fifteen minutes. Be ready." Matsumoto hung up.

Rukia sighed in relief and threw her phone down onto the covers. She just sat under the covers for a while, pondering her situation. She'd lost another car and, worse, someone knew who she was. This was disastrous! But maybe he wasn't a bad guy? He'd helped her out, after all. But that was before he discovered that she was the Kuchiki heiress! This was a disaster! Her brother would definitely get word of this and then it would be the end of her! She'd never see daylight again! Byakuya Nii-sama would be so disappointed in her! He would look down on her like she was some kind of vermin that didn't deserve the Kuchiki name…and she had to agree that she really didn't. The Kuchiki clan was made up of people who were noble and dignified. Her illicit activities would put a huge blemish on their vast pride! Byakuya would hate her forever!

_I should go…_she thought dejectedly after a few minutes. It wouldn't be long before Matsumoto showed up. She pulled the covers back and got out of the bed and walked to the door, slipping her bag on as she went.

There was just one light on in the hallway. It was so dull. She didn't dare switch on more, in case someone was around. Weren't there any other patients in the building? She didn't want to wake them. She kept a close lookout as she moved. She soon arrived at the reception desk. Next to it was a pair of glass doors leading out. She tried the handle but it was locked. She sighed and looked around.

There was a smaller, wooden door to the side. She tried that. It led to a hallway. So, the clinic was connected to their room. There were a few doors. Through one of them, she could see the darkened kitchen. She tried the closed door. It opened to reveal the living room.

What was she doing, looking around somebody's house? She had to get out of here! Matsumoto would be here soon! She went to the front door and tried it. Obviously, it was locked. But where was the key? She had to get out of here but the idea of snooping around somebody's living room was not a pleasing one. She didn't want to act like a thief. Where on earth was the guy who'd rescued her, this doctor person?

With trepidation, she stepped into the living room and closed the door behind her. She'd need to turn on the light so it would be better not to risk being seen by someone upstairs. Matsumoto had said that the doctor lived here with his father and two sisters. She didn't want to get caught by someone going to the loo or something.

She gently switched on the light and was about to start searching for the keys to the front door when she heard the stairs creaking. She froze. Was it the guy who'd rescued her? But it might be one of the other three members of his family too! What if the person got spooked enough to hit her or something? She already had a wounded head! It was bad. She switched the light off and waited.

The footsteps headed to the kitchen and Rukia heard a light switch being flicked. A couple of seconds later, there was the faint sound of running water. The light switch was flicked again and the footsteps passed the living room, going towards the stairs. The Kurosakis' house was really old; the floorboards creaked a lot.

Rukia was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the footsteps backtracked to the living room door. The sigh froze in her throat. The door slowly opened and a hand came through the opening and turned on the light. Rukia blinked. The unknown person stepped into the room, eyes half closed. It was a girl (or woman), with long-ish black hair that fell to her shoulders. She was dressed in a large, black t-shirt and pyjama shorts.

She didn't see Rukia immediately. Her eyes were half-closed but when she turned to close the door behind her, Rukia was the first thing she noticed. Her eyes widened and she nearly screamed out, startled. Rukia nearly screamed too but they both clamped their hands over their mouths.

"Y-you're the girl Ichi-Nii brought home earlier." The girl said.

"You don't have to say it like that." Rukia snorted as she got herself under control.

"What're you doing in here?" The girl asked suspiciously.

"Lookin for the keys." Rukia replied. "My friend's coming to pick me up and I need to get out."

"Oh…right." The stranger yawned widely without covering her mouth. "I'm Karin, by the way. What's your name?"

"I'm Riko." She was glad she still had her wig on. Almost subconsciously, she lifted her hand up to make sure it was still in place. The girl noticed the gesture.

"I'm sure you had black hair when you came. Why're you wearing a wig?"

"Wh-what makes you think it's a wig?" Rukia asked nervously.

"Cuz I can see the bandages beneath it." Karin smirked. "That's a poor attempt at hiding your true appearance."

"I-I'm not hiding…" The Drift Queen stuttered.

The Kurosaki girl scoffed. "Yeah, right. I know where my brother goes when he's out so late. He's into the whole drift thing and I'm fairly sure I know who you are."

"Oh yeah?" Rukia tried to keep her tone confident, though she was a little stressed. Now someone else knew who she was! This was not good!

"Yeah, I never heard that Kuchiki Rukia's the Drift Queen, ya know, so after I saw bring you in, I suspected you had an alias or something. I hear your bro's real tight."

This girl was certainly smart, or smart enough to get Rukia into a bit of bother. Rukia sighed. "Will you tell anyone?"

Karin shrugged. "There's nothin in it for me."

"I…see…" Rukia didn't trust that. There weren't many people out there who would just throw away a chance at ridiculing someone who was famous.

"You don't believe me." Karin raised a dark eyebrow expectantly. Rukia didn't say anything so she turned around and stomped over to the sofa. "Do what you want. I'm just here to watch a bit of TV." She plopped down and took the remote and switched on the TV.

Rukia stood regarding her for a few seconds before she sighed. "Please don't tell anyone."

"I told you; if it don't benefit me, I ain't doin squat." Karin flicked through the channels.

"Okay…so, where're the keys?"

She pointed to the mantelpiece above the fireplace. On it were a set of two keys. Rukia walked to them and picked one up. Both little bunches had a different car key attached to them. So, this family had two drivers. One was the man she'd met and maybe the other one was their father. Who knew? Who _cared_? She had to leave.

"Well, bye." Rukia said awkwardly as she opened the living room door. "Nice meeting you, Karin."

Karin grunted something unintelligible and put her hand up in a lazy wave, her drooping eyes fixed firmly on the TV screen. Rukia smiled as she walked out.

Matsumoto was already waiting in her car. "Geez, what took you so long? I've been waiting for at least two minutes!"

"Well sorry." Rukia snorted. "I got held up having a conversation with one of the twins that you mentioned."

"Aw, how nice. Did you see the guy again? I saw a picture and he looks a bit like Kaien…"

"Matsumoto, please." Rukia sighed. "I'm tired." She took off the wig.

Matsumoto had been about to move off but she glanced over at her friend and saw the bandages. "Hey, I thought it was nothing serious!"

"It isn't! It just looks a little worse that it really is. It just stings a little. It'll be fine."

"But…"

"Just drive, Rangiku."

Matsumoto sighed. "Fine."

"Did my brother call, by the way?" Byakuya had a tendency to check up on her sometimes. Either he worried about her incessantly or he didn't trust her. She would bet that it was the latter. She was thankful that she had a friend like Matsumoto. If she'd had to remain the night at the Kurosaki Clinic, she'd have had to find her way home from here…in a taxi! That was unforgiveable! She hadn't used a taxi since…never. And if she'd turned up at her brother's (and her) home without her own car, then Byakuya would have questioned. She really didn't like to lie to her brother but he would not be pleased with her activities.

"Yes, but I told him you were going to stay the night."

"Phew, thanks, Rangiku."

"What would you do without me, eh?" The blond woman smiled.

"I really don't know."

* * *

I hope there weren't any big mistakes! I didn't proofread, as usual :( I'm really too lazy. Anyway, next update, I'm sorry to say, will be next Wednesday, when I have to babysit again :D later, folks!


	2. The Memories

Yo, everybody! This one's a bit long and a bit boring but I'm hoping to get their friendship going next chapter :D thanks for stickin with me.

* * *

Ichigo did his daily rounds in the morning, before the Clinic opened and before he had breakfast. He had to make sure everything was clean. He couldn't run a professional clinic if the place was a mess. It was hazardous for the patients that checked in.

He first went to the room where he'd treated the girl from the race. She wasn't there. The bedcovers were unmade. It was a little early to ask any of his family members if they'd seen her at all because everyone had just gotten up and only Karin had seen him bring in the unconscious girl. He sighed and went to make the bed. He lifted up the cover and saw a mobile phone lying there. He frowned and picked it up. It was most probably that girl's.

He dropped it into his pocket and finished making the bed before walking out of the room. After finishing the rest of his rounds, he got a little curious so he took the device out again and looked through the contacts. He knew it was wrong to be so nosy but he was curious to see how many contacts a big-time heiress had. He'd been expecting loads and loads, maybe even hundreds but there were only six:

**Home**

**Kaien-dono**

**Nii-sama**

**Rangiku**

**Renji**

**Ukitake**

**Urahara**

That was it. Just seven. "Er..." he frowned, unsure of what to make of the list of names. He knew two of the names and they were two of his acquaintances whom he didn't particularly trust. But there was no way he could know someone who she knew! Their worlds were apart so the people would be completely different! Perhaps it was just a coincidence or...maybe it wasn't. She was part of the "drifting" world and he also knew people who were part of it. In fact, they were key players so it made sense. Urahara was a big shot who was on familiar terms with his friend Sado's family (whose members were big drifting fans. They were the only family in Karakura who was actually fully involved in the drifting world) and if the full name of "Renji" was Abarai Renji, then that guy used to hold the title of "DK" (Drift King) some years ago but he'd given up racing for quite a while now. Ichigo had met him a few times. He was an obnoxious red-headed freak who knew nothing about manners (if he'd told his friends of that description, they'd probably look back at him accusingly with gazes that would say "you hypocrite").

"It's a small world." He muttered.

"You know, that habit of yours of talkin to yourself is real annoyin." A voice said behind him. He'd reached the reception desk now and was in the process of opening the drawer marked "lost property". He looked over his shoulder. "Karin? Aren't you supposed to be at school...or college or whatever?"

"I'm takin the day off." The dark-haired girl replied nonchalantly. She wasn't the typical student; if she felt like not doing something, she wouldn't do it, whether her future depended on it or not. But she wasn't a slacker. She just wanted people to think that she didn't care about anything. "What's that you got there?"

"Someone left their phone." He replied simply, sliding the phone into the drawer and closing it. "Where's Otou-san...?" He began, but just as he'd finished phrasing his question, the said father bound through the door towards both his children.

"Good morning, my delinquent daughter and son!" Kurosaki Isshin said happily. "What a wonderful day...!"

He was immediately silenced by Karin's socked foot planting itself in his face. Ichigo thought he heard a barely audible crack. He winced.

"Every freakin morning!" The girl grumbled. "For once can you just be like a sensible ordinary father? It's not too much to ask, dammit!"

"Ya know, ya really shouldn't do that in the mornings." Ichigo sighed as his father picked himself up from the floor. "Now I'll have to deal with the patients myself while he goes all loony."

Isshin promptly started to sob comically and flew to an enlarged poster of his wife that was hung conveniently in the clinic foyer. There were at least three of those posters hung around their estate; one in Isshin's room, one in the kitchen/dining room, and the one in the foyer. "Oh! Masaki! Why is it that our delinquent children bully me so?!"

"Stupid old man," Karin muttered. Since he'd started to call her his "delinquent daughter" (since her rebellious attitude had increased during high school), the attacks had gotten more frequent and more serious. Ichigo would have felt sorry for their old man if it wasn't for the fact that he still drop-kicked him awake on some mornings. It was rather annoying.

"Ano, breakfast is ready!" Yuzu's voice called out from the house kitchen.  
"Coming."

* * *

Rukia didn't know how long Rangiku stayed awake to drink sake on selected nights. She'd stayed at her friend's manor (where the blond woman lived alone) enough times to know that drinking parties with various drinking buddies was a very frequent occasion. Rukia didn't even know some of the guys who came! Some were really old, some were about the same age, and rarely were they younger. Matsumoto had never said so but Rukia was sure she had a thing for older men.

She'd had a drinking party last night, before Rukia had phoned and then she'd stayed up after she'd picked her friend up so it was understandable that she didn't look or sound that great in the morning. Rukia arrived downstairs to find her chugging down a huge mug of black coffee. The smaller woman made a sour face. How could people drink black coffee? It was absolutely disgusting. "Morning."

"Hey…" Matsumoto replied sombrely.

"Ya know, I'd love to see how your dad would react to these drinking parties of yours." Rukia snorted as she prepared to fix herself some breakfast.

"Good job he won't ever find out then, eh?" The blond woman sounded completely out of it. She finished her coffee and poured some more in.

"But ya know, you are going to inherit the company one day so don't you think it's about time you started to act a little more responsible?"

Matsumoto's father was the head and founder of Matsumoto Industries, a very successful business which managed imports and exports of various home furnishings. Matsumoto was an only child so she was set to inherit her father's position one day.

"Hey, I can act plenty responsible!" She protested. "I do have my own business, ya know." She pouted.

As practice for when she would take over Matsumoto Industries, Matsumoto's father had let her set up a business of her own. At first, it had only just been one or two hair salons in their area but because they'd been enormously prosperous, they were scattered all over their prefecture. It hadn't taken long for Matsumoto to become a successful businesswoman; they'd barely been out of university a year!

"Yeah, and who actually runs that business?" Rukia raised a dark eyebrow.

Sadly though, that was Rukia, since Matsumoto was too lazy to do any real work. Byakuya had agreed some time back that she could run this business with her friend, if it would really help her grasp a deeper understanding of the business world. So, three days out of six, she worked at Matsumoto's salon and for the other three, she was at her brother's company, dutifully fulfilling the roles that Byakuya set her.

Matsumoto didn't reply. Instead, she grudgingly replied, "I'll start to get it together…soon…dad's coming over next week."

"Good luck with that! I won't be around!" Rukia answered brightly.

Matsumoto raised her head off the tabletop and gazed at her pensively. "Fine…throw me to the dogs, why not?"

"Don't be so dramatic." The shorter woman rolled her eyes. "He's just your dad."

"He criticises every time he sees me! "Rangiku, this isn't right!" or "Rangiku, what is this shabby place?" He never has anything good to say!"

"But he only does that because he has high aspirations for you!" Rukia exclaimed. She felt a little envious of her friend. Even though Matsumoto complained, she probably knew that her father loved her very much. He'd brought her this huge mansion (and a brand-new car) as a graduation present! Who on earth received a MANSION as a present?! That was insane! Aside from the servants who were here (during the daytime only), she lived alone. Who would give one woman a huge house to live in by herself? Maybe her father had high aspirations for her future family or something…or maybe she'd end up getting hitched up with someone from her father's many business associates. So then they would be impressed with her home.

"Yeah, right!" She scoffed. "He's just pissed off that he didn't get a son."

"But ya know, I think dads love their daughters more than their sons."

"That's ridiculous. Anyway, why are we talking about such a dull old subject? Don't you have to help your brother today?"

"Yeah." Rukia calmly munched her cereal. She had plenty of time. She'd get home, get changed, and then drive down to her brother's office, all in time to grab a nice cup of tea.

"And your car isn't here. You leave it at Urahara's?"

She stopped chewing for a moment as she stared at Matsumoto blankly. Comprehension dawned shortly. "Oh, no! I did! Oh, shit!" She dropped her spoon and stood up. "I gotta go!"

"You want me to drive you?"

"Well, yeah! It's not like I'm gonna use public transport or anything!" She scoffed. She went to fetch her bag from the room that she'd slept in. Her car keys were in there, which was good. But she realised something. Her mobile phone wasn't there! She needed that phone! She searched around the room but she couldn't find it.

And then she remembered. She'd called Matsumoto the previous night at that clinic and she'd dropped it on the bed! Oh, great! Now she had to go all the way there to get her phone! Just great!

"Shit! I left my phone at that Kurosaki place!" She cried as she flew down the steps. "Come on, Rangiku! I need a lift! Quick time!"

"At least run a brush through your hair. It's standing up everywhere." Matsumoto sighed as she downed the contents of her mug. She stood up and seemingly pulled a brush out of nowhere and tossed it to her.

"Er…you should see your own hair…and you've got bags under your eyes." Rukia said as she ran the brush swiftly through her black locks.

"I know." The blond woman sighed again and trudged up the stairs, smoothing out her bedraggled hair as she went. "Gimme five minutes." She groaned as she made her way out of the kitchen. "I feel like crap…"

Rukia couldn't help but grin. She put the brush down and looked herself over. She had a few spare outfits at Matsumoto's place (since she was here practically every day) so she'd had a bath and gotten changed already. She'd have to change again when she got home; Byakuya was very serious about presentation. It sucked because the professional-looking four or three-piece suits didn't really sit well with her…though she didn't dare complain. Her brother had done so much for her already. She didn't have it in her to protest about anything.

A few minutes later, Matsumoto came back dressed in one of her usual flashy outfits (ones which showed off her ample bosom), with her hair done up stylishly. "All right, let's hit the road!"

* * *

Ichigo had just about stepped into the clinic through the house door when there was a knock. He frowned as he gazed over at the glass doors. It was the Kuchiki girl. So, she'd come to get her phone back. He went to let her in.

As he drew closer, her eyes locked onto his face with an intensity that made his permanent frown deepen. What was she staring at? Did he have something on his face or something? He almost wiped at his lips, but he refrained from doing so. People always stared; it shouldn't be a surprise after twenty-three years.

"Yeah?" He said when he opened the door.

"Er…" her mouth opened a little with the poor attempt at speech. She closed it and attempted to say something again. "I…er…"

_Weird chick_, he thought. Her gaze didn't let up. He began to feel irked. He hated it when people stared. Was his hair _that_ unusual? And what was the big deal anyway? She'd seen him yesterday! "What?!" He snapped.

That forced her out of her daze. "Oh…sorry. Did I leave anything here yesterday?" Her gaze was now focused somewhere above his head.

"I dunno. Did you?" He asked, leaning casually against the doorframe.

"Yes, I'm fairly sure that I did."

"And what did you lose?"

"A phone."

He turned around abruptly and strode into the clinic, towards the reception desk. He went to dig around in the drawer and pulled out the phone he'd stored in there earlier. "Here." He handed it to her over the counter. "Kimura Riko."

She gazed up at him as she pocketed the little device. Her eyes were suddenly on guard. "You know." It wasn't a statement or a question. There were no pretences here. She wasn't wearing her wig today and her face was a very recognisable one. He'd noticed who she was immediately when he'd taken the wig off her head to see to her wound last night. Not that he cared. He was past caring about some rich little brat wanting to immerse herself in something illegal. He wasn't into the society of the higher-ups. He had no interest in who was a celebrity or not.

"I guess I do, Kuchiki-san." He said mockingly. People said he was intolerable when he mocked. He tried to keep it toned down during working hours because he couldn't be unfriendly to the patients, otherwise he'd lose his clients.

"Are…you going to tell anybody?" She asked warily.

He shrugged. "I don't have anything to gain by telling anybody that Kuchiki Rukia has a secret life."

A faint shadow of a smile curved her lips suddenly. "Just like your sister, I see."

He frowned at that. "Say what?"

She shook her head and turned around to leave. "Thank you, doctor." She stepped over the threshold and out into the cool morning air.

Belatedly, he called out, "hey, you're supposed to be resting! Best give drivin a miss for a while! It'll be bad for the wound!" He walked to the door and paused there as he watched her walk away.

"Don't concern yourself, doctor." She said faintly across the distance.

"And that's Ichigo during non-working hours!" He didn't know why he'd said that. Almost everybody called him Ichigo (aside from his patients). He watched her climb into a sleek black Porsche parked across the road and then she drove off. Clearly, she wasn't one to listen to doctor's instructions. He tutted.

"Who were you hollering at, boy?" A new voice suddenly said behind him. He whirled around to find that his father's face was shoved right in front of his.

"None of your business." He sighed as he roughly shoved the man aside and marched to the reception desk again.

"Ooh, boy's growing up! That was a woman just now, right? Right?! Oh, Masaki!"

_Here we go again_, he thought wearily as Isshin went to hug the poster of his dead wife, crying about "the kids growing up so fast!" or something. The old man needed a hobby.

* * *

Rukia's attention kept going back to the orange-haired man. He looked so much like someone she'd known! She'd not had a chance to look at him properly last night because it had been fairly dark and she'd been feeling a little woozy and then she'd lost consciousness and woken to the empty hospital-like room. And now she'd just ogled shamelessly. She didn't really care that he must have thought her a freak or something but she did feel a little foolish. He wasn't Kaien-dono! Nobody was like Kaien-dono! Kaien-dono had been one of a kind.

But she couldn't stop thinking about him as she got home, changed into her business outfit, and made her way to her brother's office. His face was like Kaien-dono's...but this guy's eyebrows had been furrowed in a permanent scowl, whereas Kaien-dono had always worn a goofy grin. His personality had been unlike anyone she knew.

Shiba Kaien had been Rukia's mentor in many things when she first went away to university. He'd been from a rich family and he'd been the tutor for the course that she'd done at the university. He'd also been a driving instructor. He'd told her that when she'd mentioned that she'd been looking to start driving soon, because Byakuya wanted her to be independent when it came to transport (probably because he always had something to occupy himself with and he needed his chauffeur a lot, so she couldn't use his driver). So, Kaien had started to instruct her and, somehow, their lessons always turned out a little on the wrong side of the law. He'd teach her all these complicated manoeuvres with the simplest of instructions. They'd had fun in those lessons. She had become an excellent driver and he somehow got her into drifting…though she had known perfectly well that it was illicit to drive cars around town like that.

One day, he told her of an event that was taking place near the university and he asked her to come. She complied immediately (because she could never quite bring herself to say "no" when it came to Kaien-dono, even though the race would be held _really_ late at night). She was absolutely thrilled with all the action! She still remembered it. There had been a buzz in the air as the two cars struggled for the lead and she found herself pumping her fist in celebration when the one that she'd been keeping an eye on cleared the finish line first. Sometimes, Kaien would be the competitor and she would cheer with everything she had. In every race that he participated in, he won.

Amid her remembrances, her day at the office was a blur. Before she knew it, she was coming back home with her brother. She'd been so absorbed in her memories of Kaien.

Byakuya sat in her car as she drove, which he did from time to time instead of going with his chauffeur. Rukia didn't even understand why he had a chauffeur; he could drive as well as she could. But she made a lot of stress-induced mistakes when Byakuya sat with her. She could practically feel it whenever his eyes flickered to her. His gaze would be hard, cold, as always. He made her nervous. He was probably looking for slip-ups, in her opinion, so that his judgement of her would fall even less than it already was.

He'd never actually radiated any kind of hostility towards her but she always felt that he hated her. His aloofness didn't let up with anybody and it didn't change when he was with her either, even though she was supposed to be his "sister".

Maybe he was always comparing her to her real blood sister, to whom he had been married. She'd never known her sister. When she'd been about two years old, her sister Hisana had abandoned her at an orphanage and run away. In the next six years, she had somehow managed to get herself acquainted and married to the richest and most sought-after bachelor in Karakura; Kuchiki Byakuya. Another five years passed and Hisana's health began to deteriorate rapidly. She told Byakuya of the little sister that she'd so callously left behind and she asked him to seek her out and take her in as if she were his own sibling. He had agreed.

But Rukia wished Byakuya would stop being so indifferent. He always wore that blank expression and it was kind of disheartening.

She was truly grateful to him for giving her this new chance at life. Up until she'd been fourteen, she'd been a scruffy, boyish little girl concerned with nothing more than shirking her chores down at the orphanage and beating up the bullies in the area (she'd been exceedingly small but she had packed quite a punch in her tiny little fists). And then this whole new, _rich_ world had been introduced to her and she'd been told her sister's brief story. She'd been taken out of the high school that she'd barely started at the time, dressed up in some fancy uniform, and whisked away to the most elite school in the prefecture!

She didn't want to show him any disrespect by disobeying him or anything like that. Maybe he still saw her as one of those "filthy little scamps", as he called the mischievous poor kids on the streets. She'd tried her utmost to show her gratitude but he still reacted this way. How had he ever managed to fall in love with Hisana? Hisana had been as much a commoner as Rukia had been.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Rukia." He said blankly when she briefly glanced down after her mobile phone vibrated in her pocket.

"H-Hai, Nii-sama." She muttered, turning her attention to the road immediately. Why did he have to be so condescending? She could only imagine what he would be like if he found out that she practiced drifting on a weekly basis, which was why she had to keep her identity a strict secret when she went out for her races. Matsumoto had been bugging her for ages that she should just drop the whole thing before he found out and skinned her alive but…drifting was the constant reminder that Kaien still lived in her heart somewhere. She practiced the sport to keep his memory alive.

After Matsumoto, Kaien had really been her only friend (ever since she'd become a part of this "rich world"). But the thing that put him on a separate scale to Matsumoto was that she'd been in love with him. She'd respected him in the beginning, and then she'd idolized him, and then she'd loved him on a platonic level…and then she had felt well and true adoration for him.

It was just her bad luck that he'd already had a beautiful wife. But it hadn't stopped her loving him. She had often wondered what she must have been like to him. He had spent far too much time with her to pass it off as any student/teacher relationship. Had he seen her as a younger sibling? A friend? Any sort of love interest? No, she heavily doubted the latter. Sometimes, he'd talked endlessly about his wife and about how they'd first met and everything. Rukia had met her a few times when she'd gone to their house and she'd liked her immediately. Shiba Miyako had been like a caring mother, fussing over their guest at every little thing…so did that mean Rukia was like a daughter to Kaien? She'd never know now.

It had been during her third year at university when he died. He'd been out with his wife to see his sister and younger brother who'd lived some miles away and some guy in a bigger, bulkier car had crashed into them. It was like some twisted irony that he'd died doing what he did best; driving. She'd grieved for both of them for months. She was barely over it now.

She arrived home and stopped the car. Two servants were already waiting to open their doors for them. Rukia wished they'd stop that; it was kind of embarrassing. She could open her door herself. Were rich people expected to be so moronic that they couldn't let themselves out of the car? Sometimes, she really didn't feel like she belonged in this world. She got out and threw her keys to the man who had opened the door. "Park it up, Hayate." She smiled.

"Hai, Rukia-sama." The man bowed deeply and climbed inside the black car.

She went upstairs to change. The sooner she got out of this figure-hugging business-like outfit, the better she'd feel. She liked loose-fitting clothes.

Why had she been thinking about Kaien all day? She didn't often have days like that anymore. But when she did used to have them, she'd be depressed all day. She felt normal today, if just a tiny bit regretful. She didn't want to hold onto the past like some inept fool. Getting hung-up on the past was never a good thing.

She remembered that her phone had vibrated. She must have a message. She dug the little device out. It was Matsumoto.

_Hey hope u get this, cum ova afta work. Dad decided 2 drop by and tell me in person that he's gonna bring mom and grandma with him too. I need consoling :'(_

Rukia sighed as she put the device away. Time for some cheering up. It would probably involve more than just a few bottles of sake.

She arrived at her friend's house quickly.

"Hey!" Matsumoto said cheerily as Rukia came into the spacious receiving room. They would be here alone, since the servants had left already. Matsumoto would no doubt go wild with the alcohol.

"You okay?" Rukia asked.

The blond woman grinned and held out a few bottles of sake. Rukia rolled her eyes. One might wonder why Matsumoto felt the need to throw something of a party after she'd spent some time with her family. She felt stressed whenever her family was in the vicinity.

Matsumoto had something of a double life, like Rukia did. And like Rukia, she went to great lengths to make sure nobody found out about it. Though it wasn't as much a double life as a hobby that just put her on the wrong side of the law. It had probably been going on since they'd first become friends. She'd always been into computers and she'd been very fond of humiliating people who said/did nasty things to her friends.

Rukia used to get picked on a lot by the snobby kids during her first few months. They had said that a filthy rat like her wasn't good enough for their school. Sometimes she got hit. And because she was trying to show her gratitude to her new brother, she'd behaved herself and not hit back. Her morale had been really low and then Matsumoto, always unusually perceptive, had noticed that the girl she sat next to in class was always upset or angry so she'd asked what was wrong. Rukia hadn't said a word so the blond girl had decided to investigate. She'd followed her and, sure enough, she'd been surrounded by her usual bullies. Matsumoto had stepped out to stop them. They let the matter drop that one time. Rukia and Matsumoto became gradual friends after that but the bullies still came back. Matsumoto did some "research" on them, threatened them with what she knew, and then they left Rukia well alone.

Matsumoto also didn't want to let her family down. She was her parents' only child so she would inherit the business and she had to be a "good girl" for that. It wouldn't look good for the family if her public persona spoke of things which were illicit. And there had been various times when they'd come close to finding out about this "hobby" of hers. It got to the point where she began to feel uncomfortable in the company of her parents, as if her illicit doings were hanging over her like a raincloud. She did whatever she could to avoid being with them for too long. She didn't like it but that feeling built up so much over the years that it became unbearable for her to stay with them. And yet she still wanted to be good in their books. She didn't want to let them down. Rukia found it odd but it was understandable. She would always do whatever she could to assist her friend.

"Oh yeah, you went by that doctor's place this morning, right?" Matsumoto asked in a slightly slurred voice. How many bottles had she got through so far? She still seemed to have her thinking process completely intact. Rukia was still on her first, taking perhaps a one millilitre sip a minute.

"Yeah."

Matsumoto really could hold her liquor! If Rukia wasn't so appalled, she would have been impressed. "What's he like? I thought he looked a bit like Kaien."

"Hmm…" Rukia didn't want to talk about it. Usually, Matsumoto keyed in to that but she was too drunk to notice now.

"I think you should go see him again." She muttered, taking another long swig from her bottle.

"Why?" Rukia asked suspiciously.

"Well…you know you've been a little depressed ever since Kaien…passed on…maybe you should give someone else a chance."

Rukia raised an eyebrow high, incredulous. "Rangiku, I JUST met the guy! And he just checked my head wound, that's all! I don't know him or anything! Sheesh!"

"It's just a good opportunity to meet new people! I don't mean you have to declare yourself his girlfriend or something! Maybe if you got more friends, then you could move on a little."

Rukia's dark eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement."And what if…I didn't want to meet new people?"

Matsumoto shrugged. "Then that's your loss. You think Kaien would want you to brood over him? It's almost been two years."

"I don't know what you're talkin about. I'm not brooding." Rukia harrumphed.

If Matsumoto hadn't been so drunk, she probably wouldn't have been talking about Kaien so freely. It was a touchy subject for Rukia. In the early days, when Rukia had been noticeably depressed, Matsumoto wouldn't leave it alone and she'd completely shut down.

The blond woman shrugged. "Well, whatever. I just think it would be good for you if you got a new friend…and this guy just happens to look like someone you knew and he saved you without asking for a price. I think that's pretty remarkable…for times like these, ya know?"

* * *

This time, I think it's gonna be focused a little more around Rukia's discomfort with Byakuya an stuff. Just a few things are gonna change from the original, so not to worry :D


	3. The Gratitude

Feels like nobody's reading this story :( oh well, since I don't have a life, I'll continue writing it anyway :D

* * *

"Ichi-Nii, you have a visitor." Karin grumbled as she went to flop down on the coach beside her brother. The padded surface of the couch puffed up as she did and threw Ichigo off.

"Whoa! Hey!" He cried as he fell.

She stuck her tongue out. He sighed and went to get the door. "Who is it?"

"Some girl."

He frowned at that. Nobody ever came to visit him aside from his few remaining friends, but they were all guys. He opened the door, wondering why Karin hadn't just invited this guest inside. It was fairly cold in the evenings these days.

"Domo!"

He stepped back in surprise. "You…you're the girl from yesterday, right?" He asked, frowning at the short, black-haired girl. Kuchiki Rukia. What was she doing here?

"That's right!" She answered brightly.

"What do you want? You didn't leave anything else, did you?"

"No, I didn't leave anything else." She smiled.

He stepped to the side to make room for her to get by. "Well, I guess you might as well come on in."

She didn't make any move to heed his invitation. "No, thank you. I'm not going to stay long. in fact, I was wondering if you'd take a ride with me." She pointed her thump vaguely over her shoulder.

He looked and saw the faint outline of her black car parked across the road. He his frown deepened. "A ride, eh?" He mused. "What for?"

She shrugged (something which he didn't think rich kids did that often, what with it being too casual or unmannerly or something crazy like that). "Just. I guess I never got a chance to thank you properly for helping me out…"

"Don't worry about it." He said uninterestedly. "I'm a doctor; I'd like to think helping people is what I do best."

"Not with that perma-frown…" she muttered quietly, looking off to the side.

A vein popped in his forehead. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" She answered brightly. "So, will you come?"

He evaluated just how bored he was at the moment. Karin would hog the TV for another three hours at the least, since she had nothing better to do, there was at least an hour to go before dinner, and if he went up to his room to look at comic books or something, his father would charge in and accuse him of being stuck in his miserable childhood. The old man had a point but Ichigo didn't need to take any of that crap from the buffoon because Isshin acted more like a child than Ichigo ever had. "Sure." He said. "Lemme grab ma jacket."

He ducked back into the living room. "Yo, I'm goin out. Be back in a while." He took his jacket from the coat rack.

"Onii-chan?" Yuzu called out from the kitchen. She'd heard his message. "Where are you going?"

"He's got a date with a little girl." Karin replied loudly. Ichigo was sure Rukia heard that. He looked out the open front door but the Kuchiki girl just stood there, looking around obliviously.

"Shut up, Karin!" He hissed as he slipped his jacket on. He was about to start walking but Yuzu was there immediately.

"YOU'VE GOT A DATE?!" She cried out. She peeked out the door at Rukia. "Ooh, nice, Onii-chan! Go get her!" She gave him a thumps up with a proud, teary smile.

"Damaru!" He yelled irritably as he turned around and walked out the house. Just because he was something of a failure in the girls' department, didn't mean they had to go nuts every time a female came to their house (which wasn't really that often). He had never really gone steady with a girl so they were always on his case about when he'd get married and move the hell out. Karin was anxious to have a room to herself after nineteen years of sharing her current one with Yuzu.  
"What was all that?" Rukia asked as he closed the door.

"Nothing. Ignore them." His mouth was set in a scowl. Maybe that was why he'd never had any steady relationships; his face was too scary, apparently. Like he could give more of a damn. Some of his weaker patients got scared, even when he was trying to be nice. He was thoroughly fed up of being mistaken for some bully. Like he hadn't had enough of that shit back during his entire academic life!

His attention went from his singleness to the car that Rukia owned. It was a Porsche, of the 911 series. "Neat motor…" he whistled. Okay, so maybe he was obsessed with cars; girls didn't get that at all so it was like he spoke an entirely different language when he went on about release dates and series.

"Sure is." Rukia grinned as she took the driver seat and buckled up. He strapped himself in too. The engine roared to life and they sped away down the relatively empty road.

He grinned to himself. "Only ever sat in one of these a handful of times."

"Oh yeah?" Rukia enquired. "You into motors, eh?"

He scoffed. "You could say that."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised; you don't look like the type of guy who visits the drift scene to check out the booty on the babes." She smirked.

"No, I'm not." He grumbled. He'd been to races loads of times in the past with his friends Keigo and Mizuiro. The two goons had been more interested in picking up some scantily-clad women than watching any actual action, which he thought was really pointless. If people were going to be there at such an event, then it would be best if they paid attention to what was going on, right? But Keigo and Mizuiro had both been slaves to their overeager hormones back then.

"So, what's this about?" He asked.

She shrugged. "A friend of mine told me I should thank you properly for saving my ass the other night."

"It's no big." He said dismissively.

"To you it might not be, but I was brought up to show gratitude to those who helped me without asking for anything in return…and lately, not many people would deign to help out someone like me unless there was something in it for them." Under the light of the lampposts that filtered in through the windscreen, he could see her eyes harden as she spared him a brief glance.

He sighed. "I told you; I'm a doctor. It's what I do."

"For no cost?" She raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "I won't ask for any kind of price in helping someone out."

"Why don't you just state what you want and I'll leave you be?" She suggested.

He snorted. "Why're you makin such a big deal out of this? Your word is thanks enough. I don't want anything. I already have everything I could want."

She looked sceptical. "Really? And what is that?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno, friends, family, a decent career. Sorry, there isn't anythin anybody could offer me." What was up with this chick anyhow? He wished she'd just drop it already. He didn't particularly like someone pressing useless issues. Did she just want to impress on the fact that she was rich and upper-class? He couldn't care less! And if she did genuinely want to pay him back, there wasn't really anything that he needed. He earned enough to get whatever he wanted.

"Hn…" she turned her gaze away from the road and fixed him with her dark eyes. Shadows passed over her face from the fleeting orange light of the lampposts outside. Did she know she had an intense gaze? It was like yesterday morning; she was making him uncomfortable a little. Nobody he knew had such an intense gaze, except maybe Karin.

"What?" He asked, not looking away.

"Then why do you frown so much, Berry-chan?" She asked innocently.

A vein popped in his forehead. "What's with that, _chibi-chan_?" It wasn't a conscious effort to avoid the question or anything…of course not…

A corresponding tick mark appeared on her forehead. "Urusai!"

"Make me, midget!"

"Oh, I'll make you all right!"

Before he knew it, her fist was lodged in his cheek. "OW! You damn little…!"

She smirked triumphantly. Amazingly, the car hadn't even wobbled. She turned her gaze back out the windscreen. "Try hittin me back; I'll make sure your side crashes."

So he sat there smouldering, glaring at her as a low growl rumbled in his throat.

She sighed after about five minutes. "Are you just gonna sit there and glower at me? I did ask you what you wanted so answer me already."

He rolled his eyes. "I told you I don't want anything."

"Just ask for something already! This could go on for quite some time. I'm not going to stop the car until I hear what you want and then I'll never bother you again!"

"Damn, you're persistent," he grumbled.

She smiled. "I know. It's how I survive."

He frowned at that. "What's that mean?"

"Never mind. Just tell me what you want."

"You know, I think I'm regretting savin yer ass. I could really do without this hassle." He sighed deeply.

She harrumphed. "Well, this "hassle" will be out of your way if you just state what you want. It can be anything. Matsumoto probably won't be happy with me until I pay of this debt so I should get it over and done with."

"Debt?" He raised an eyebrow. "You don't owe me any money or anythin. You don't owe me anythin."

She punched him again. "Now I'm just getting impatient."

"You goddamn…" he muttered sourly. For such a small girl, she sure had a lot of strength! His cheek would bruise. "Fine." He thought on it. But he didn't want anything! And especially not from a rich girl! No way! But she would keep bugging him until he said something. How troublesome…

"All right, since you won't drop it," he replied after a thoughtful silence, "how about drifting lessons?"

She turned her head in his direction and blinked. "…what?"

"Drifting lessons. Teach me to drift." He clarified, meeting her gaze. It was the only thing that had come to mind and it was something he was quite interested in. His friend Chad refused to teach him, since he was trying to get straight with the law these days. A few years ago, there had been an incident with his family and he'd grown less fond of drifting because of it. He'd wanted to be a police officer since then and he refused to get his friends more involved with that world. And even though the machinations of drifting were pretty easy to grasp, he wouldn't dare try anything with his own car; wheels cost a hell of a lot.

"Hn…" she stared out the windscreen thoughtfully, pondering the situation. "I'm sorry." She finally said with a sigh. "Anything but that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, that was the only thing I could come up with. Why, what's wrong with that anyhow?"  
She shrugged. "It's just not…appropriate…"

"What, your bro gon give you a hard time or somethin?" He muttered sarcastically. Everybody in Karakura knew Kuchiki Byakuya. He was really high-class. All the girls in town had a thing for him. Ichigo couldn't understand it; he didn't particularly try to hide his dislike of the working class. _Nobody_ understood that. Hadn't his wife been a normal girl or something? He remembered Yuzu talking about it a few years ago.

And he couldn't imagine Kuchiki Byakuya would allow his little sister to be part of a world where all the classes mixed so carelessly. Hence, the reason why Rukia wore that brown wig. That was why she'd asked him yesterday if he'd tell anybody about her "secret life". She must be scared of her brother, or maybe she didn't want to disappoint him. It was a very well known fact that Kuchiki Byakuya prized his noble lineage above all else…and the fierce drifting world was so far removed from that nobility. Ichigo imagined it would cause quite an uproar in the Kuchiki household if Byakuya found out about her secret life.

"Nii-sama does not concern you." She said frostily.

_Ooh, I hit a nerve_, he thought with a private smirk. "What? You scared of him?" He asked.

"Shut up."

"No, really, are you? That's why you have another name, right?"

"Shut up." She repeated a little more forcefully. "I have an alias because Nii-sama would be disappointed if he knew. My affairs are none of your business."

"Touchy!" He exclaimed. "Fine, whatever."

There was silence in the car. Ichigo turned to watch the passing scenery, his mind exploring the situations he had to deal with tomorrow…the patients that he had to see. Outside of work, he really had nothing to worry about. What a boring life…

He checked his watch. Only twenty minutes had passed! That was it? It felt like he'd been in the car at least an hour. Yuzu would be preparing dinner about now.

"So, don't you have anything else that you'd like to ask for?" She asked suddenly.

"Hn?" He shifted his gaze from the window to the driver.

"Anything else?" She repeated.

He sighed. How persistent. "Not really. That was it."

She sighed too. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

He raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "If it's gonna get you into trouble with yer bro then leave it."

She shook her head and smiled a little ruefully. "If I've already got another life, then I don't suppose it would matter much if I added to it a little. I guess I'll just be out of the house a little more in the evenings now."

His eyebrows came together in a frown. "So, yer okay with it?"

She shrugged. "Basically."

"All right, if ya say so."

"I do."

There was more silence. One corner of Ichigo's lip curled up into a small smile and he turned to look out of the window again. He didn't know why he was smiling. He didn't usually smile much because, to answer Rukia's question, he didn't really have _everything_ he needed. He'd never had what he needed, not since he'd been nine. What he _needed_ was to have his family whole but that wasn't going to happen. Nobody could undo his mother's death.

"So, are we okay to go back to my place now?" He asked, forcefully pulling himself out of the memories of his nine-year-old self. That was a long time ago; he couldn't afford to surrender himself to his guilt and regret.

"Yeah, sure." Rukia replied. They came to an empty junction and she reversed the car back into it and then began to drive back the way they'd come. He looked around at all the houses. Before, she'd been taking random routes but this was the "richer" part of Karakura. That was quite a drive away from where he lived! What were they doing here anyway? He had figured she'd been driving randomly. Or maybe not.

"Why are we in this part of town?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I figured I'd take us to my friend's place. I got the impression she wanted to meet you."

He frowned. "Why?"  
"She's very much into guys. She was curious when…I told her about you." She snorted. "And she's into sake too. Probably would have invited you to drink or something."

"Ah, a drinker, eh?" He nodded understandingly. Keigo loved to drink…with women. That guy was just a womaniser, though he wasn't really that successful most of the time. "Who's your friend?" He asked, not really interested.

"Matsumoto Rangiku. You heard of her?"

Keigo would totally go for a drink with _her_! "Hn…yeah, the blond one with the big…"

_Bam!_

"Ow!" He clutched his jaw tenderly as her hand returned to the steering wheel. "What was that for?!"

"I prefer it if people didn't comment on her assets." Rukia ground out between gritted teeth.

"Well, hey! You can't blame a guy for noticin…"

_Bam!_

"Ow! Stop that! Fuck…" _this chick's crazy!_ He thought, rubbing his hurting jaw. "You're freakin weird!"

"Good to know." She smiled sweetly. "In future, I'd instruct you to keep your opinions to yourself."

"But…"

"I know Rangiku is…well endowed but I don't wanna hear it." She said.

He huffed. "Fine, sorry."

The drive back home was in mostly silent, aside from random remarks about various plans for development around town.

"You wanna come in for dinner?" He said when she parked up outside his home.

"No, thanks." She said.

"Come on. It's not like we'd mind."

She gazed at him evenly for a few seconds. "But I don't want to be a bother or anything…"

"It's no big! C'mon!" He urged.

"But…" she was trying to come up with an argument but she wasn't succeeding. He wondered if she was the type of look for arguments all the time.

He grinned. "C'mon. We haven't had a guest in…forever…"

So she reluctantly got out and followed him to the door. "Tadaima!" He called out.

He was immediately assaulted by Isshin. "Boy, you're…!" But he stopped as soon as he saw Rukia. "Oh, who's this?" He went up to her and she bowed courteously.

"Good evening, my name is Kuchiki Rukia." She smiled.

Isshin gawked. He looked from Ichigo to Rukia and then back again. He finally clasped a hand on his son's shoulder. "Good job, boy!" Ichigo's vein popped and he nearly hit him but Yuzu, who had heard Rukia, came to the trio and carelessly pushed her father away and stood in his place. "_Kuchiki_ Rukia?! Wow, it's an honour to meet you!"

"She's infatuated with your brother," Ichigo muttered to their guest, rubbing his side where his father had kicked him.

"Hey! I am not!" Yuzu protested.

"You so are." Karin spoke up from the dinner table. She was busy munching away.

Yuzu looked back. "Karin-chan! It's common decency to wait for everybody else to come to the table!" The light-haired twin went back to the table, scolding.

Ichigo sighed. "Welcome to the fabulous world of the Kurosakis," he muttered dryly. Rukia merely smiled.

Isshin had picked himself up off the floor and led Rukia to the table, where he bid her to sit down at Ichigo's usual place. Ichigo was not happy but he went to find himself another chair anyway.

"I-is this okay?" She asked hesitantly. "I don't want to intrude…"

"It's fine!" Yuzu chirped happily.

"Yeah," Karin added, "due to the big eaters in this family, Yuzu always makes enough food to feed an army."

"Hey, what d'ya mean, big eaters?!" Ichigo snapped. "We're healthy!"

"I agree with the boy!" Isshin exclaimed.

"That'd be a first then," the dark-haired twin muttered uninterestedly.

Rukia smiled.

* * *

The dinner scene was completely spontaneous :D I didn't plan it an hence I don't think it fits in that well but who cares


	4. The First Lesson

Yo, sup y'all? Are we all ready for the 4th chapter of the amazing...the incredible...the revised editon of...**Drifting**?! Enjoy. I apologise for it bein shorter than usual but I ran out of time an I'm tryna write another story at the mo too :(

* * *

"Where are you going, Rukia?"

Rukia paused, cursing her luck. She had rather been hoping her brother wouldn't come out of the living room. "Um…" she fished for a solution quickly as she turned around the face the black-haired man, "w-well, Rangiku's not feeling well and asked me to come over…" she bowed her head. He could probably see right through the lie. He made her so nervous! She could lie effortlessly if the occasion called for it and Matsumoto had even said on more than one occasion that she was a damn good actress but Byakuya's presence always made her self-conscious. He was the man who had saved her from a grim future; she couldn't make herself lie so calmly in front of him. She owed him her life…and yet here she was, sneaking out on a Sunday evening to go and teach some guy how to drift! Small thanks that was!

She didn't dare look up. She didn't look at his face directly at all. She was too humble to do that so blatantly. She bowed her head whenever he addressed her openly. At the moment, it was also a good way to hide the shame that was, no doubt, written all over her face.

"All right, but make sure you're not out too long." He said eventually in his usual monotone.

She looked up in surprise but he'd already turned around to head back into his study. The back of his long scarf swished out behind him. The scarf was a family heirloom, passed down from the previous generations of the Kuchiki clan. When he wasn't in his business suit, he always wore it, along with more traditional garments. He felt that since the Kuchiki clan was of nobility, it should celebrate the Japanese tradition more. That was why he always more a kimono inside the house.

She breathed a sigh of relief, unable to believe he'd let her off so easily. Maybe he was preoccupied? It was possible. He always had work on his mind. He was a very thorough businessman. Or maybe he couldn't have cared less. But he checked up on her all the time. She should phone Matsumoto to let her know that Byakuya might call later, just to see if she was there. But, other than that, he rarely showed any interest in her personal life. She wished she could move out already, but she was too afraid to ask him. And it wouldn't show her gratitude in any way. It wasn't like she wanted to get rid of him or anything. She just felt like she couldn't breathe properly in his presence.

She trudged out of the house, pulling her car keys out of her pocket as she did so. She had a lesson to teach. She'd been wary when Kurosaki Ichigo first asked her to teach him to drift but she figured since she was already out most nights, she could spare her Sundays too. And she could maybe befriend him, since Matsumoto was so keen on that idea. They would have a one-hour lesson every Sunday, from seven until eight. _He better be there_, she thought as she climbed into her car. _Otherwise I'm gonna kick his ass_.

* * *

"Where're you going?"

Ichigo looked over his shoulder at Karin. "Out."

She scoffed. "I can see that, but where?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Don't really matter, does it?"

She shrugged. "Just curious."

"Haven't you got a life?" He sighed. "You should have some homework for university or whatever, right?"

"Nope." She sauntered off, even though she hadn't received a decent answer. She was an odd one. He stared after her for a while before he opened the door and stepped outside.

Since Karin's best friend had moved away from their part of town a while ago, she hung around the house all day (if she didn't have to go to university) doing nothing. He would bring himself to tell her to go outside and make friends and whatnot but she was a grown woman now. She was nineteen years old; she shouldn't have to be treated like a kid (not that she'd actually let anyone get away with treating her as such; she'd beat the living tar out of them if they insinuated such a thing). She'd never gone steady with a guy. All her potential boyfriends had never been good enough, in her opinion. In the past, every time she'd come back from a date, she'd always be pissed off. The only guy she'd ever really been comfortable around had been her best friend, but he wasn't around anymore.

His home life sucked. He heaved another massive sigh before he opened his car door and hopped inside. He had a lesson to go to. He'd worry about Karin later. Maybe he should get in touch with her old friend and ask him to pay a visit some time. He'd have hated him for what he'd done to his sister but it wasn't the guy's fault.

He shook the thoughts from his head. Now was not the time to be the protective older brother. He didn't like to keep people waiting.

It wasn't a long drive to the place where he was to meet Rukia. It was a road he'd been past many times before. It was long and he'd never seen anyone turning into it. On one side was a metal fence, blocking the entrance into old derelict homes. The entire street would be refurbished one day, since nobody lived here anymore. There had been signs put up boasting pictures of how the place would look when new houses had been built. The other side of the houses was a fairly open space, with a tall bridge for railroads some ways down. It was the perfect place for having a drifting lesson.

He pulled up at the side when he saw that there was already another car here. It wasn't the black Porsche that he'd been expecting but a bright neon yellow Mazda with orange graphics painted onto its side.

_Stick out much_? He thought dryly. Anybody would notice that thing! He had been under the impression that they'd be keeping this on the down low.

She got out as he approached her. She was wearing her long brown wig again. He frowned.

"Yo." She greeted.

"What happened, couldn't pick out a brighter shade from the entire visible spectrum?" He asked sarcastically.

She harrumphed. "As a matter of fact, this was the only one Urahara had available to hand at the moment. Anyway, we're not here to chitchat so get in."

"What about my car?" He asked.

She gave him a blank look. "What about it?"

"I can't just leave it here, can I?" He grumbled. "Anyone could come and break into it or something."

"Relax. We're not leaving this road." She assured. "Now get in."

He wanted to argue, just for the sake of arguing, but he climbed into the driver's seat wordlessly. She went around and sat in the passenger seat and strapped herself in. After buckling up, he started the engine. He whistled as he pushed on the gas pedal and the vehicle roared. That was some awesome power right there!

"All right, all right," Rukia said after he continued to push down on the accelerator, "let's get started already."

"Alrighty." He put it into gear and took off the handbrake and got it moving. He wanted to put his foot down and see how fast it could go but he was under Rukia's instruction. It was like having a driver instructor all over again! His first instructor, and the one he'd stuck with up until he passed his driving test, had been Chad's grandpa. He had learnt around the same time that Chad had. In turn, he had tutored Karin when she turned of legal age too.

Rukia directed him to the end of the road and put him through some manoeuvres that sounded simple enough. It really was like learning to drive all over again, except this time he was learning how to go much farther than just the legal aspects. It was illicit and it was fun. People always did say that there was more fun in breaking the rules than sticking to them.

"Oh, yeah, Yuzu asked me to invite you to dinner again." He said as he parked up the car just in front of his own, after their hour-session was up.

"Hn?" She frowned at him.

He shrugged. "I think the old man's taken a liking to you. And Yuzu's taken to callin you Rukia Nee-chan." He scoffed. It had been four days since Rukia had come to his place for dinner. Yuzu bugged him every day about whether she'd see "Rukia Nee-chan" again anytime soon. She'd asked him to invite her over for dinner more than once during the past few days so he'd told her that he'd ask her today. And if he returned home alone, they'd all beat him up for making them wait an extra hour for dinner.

She furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement. "Why would they take a liking to me? They barely know me."  
He shrugged again. "Beats me. I'm sure at first it was cuz they thought you were my girlfriend but I told them that wasn't the case."

She put her hand over her mouth. "Me? Your girlfriend? _Please_!" A snigger broke out and she turned away from him.

A vein popped in his forehead. "What's with that?!" That was so snobbish!

"Sorry. Never mind." She dismissed. "Anyway," she checked the dial on the radio. It read five past eight. "Sure, I'd be glad to." She offered him a small smile.

"Cool."

He got out of her car and went to his own. There was a smile on his face, for some reason or other.

And now he had to hurry home. He had asked them to wait an hour for dinner but it'd be about quarter past eight by the time he made it back. And Isshin didn't like waiting for his dinner. The old man was particular about time management.

She tailed him closely as he drove back home. She parked up in the street and he pulled up in the garage.

"Prepare yourself." He sighed as he met her at the door. She grinned. He braced himself and opened the door.

Surprisingly, no one jumped out at him. His father and sisters were sitting in the living room, watching TV. Isshin and Yuzu looked up when the door closed. Both their eyes lit up when they saw Rukia.

"Rukia Nee-chan!" Yuzu cried happily as she came up to hug Rukia. "You came!"

"Oh, Masaki! Our third daughter has come back!" Isshin dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief as he flew to the memorial picture of his wife.

"Shut up, old man," Karin sighed without taking her eyes off the TV. "You're so embarrassing." And thus Isshin began to argue with her about "saying such things about daddy". Yuzu went to try and appease them but then gave up and went to make dinner.

"And so it begins," Ichigo muttered to Rukia.

"So what begins?" She asked curiously.

"The freak show." He replied apathetically.

She raised a dark eyebrow. "That's not something you should say about your family."

"They're a bunch of baboons." He said sourly. She punched him in the jaw. "Stupid little…" he began angrily, but she cut him off.

"You should be thankful you still have a _proper_ family, strawberry." She huffed. "Some of us don't even have that."

He narrowed his eyes in puzzlement. "What about your brother? He's your family."

"Yes…" she replied distantly, "my brother…"

He was about to ask further but Karin and Isshin decided to break off their heated argument and the latter came to drag Rukia over to the sofa and went about trying to make her comfortable. "Soon, I shall call you my daughter-in-law!" He said as tears of joy ran down his cheeks. Rukia looked at a loss.

"How embarrassing…" Ichigo and Karin both sighed in unison.

* * *

Apparently, Ichigo and Rukia needed to have some privacy so Isshin and the girls left the room, though Karin was a little reluctant to leave. Rukia stared after them with her eyebrows raised high. _What an odd little family_, she thought. But it wasn't an unpleasant feeling to be in their midst. It felt so…homely, being here. Maybe that was why she'd accepted Ichigo's invitation. She'd really enjoyed it here the last time.

"You know, they say that they're gonna give us some "privacy" but they're probably listening at the door." Ichigo snorted as he flicked through channels on the TV.

"They must really want to get rid of you. You're twenty-three and still livin at home without a wife." She said teasingly.

"Urusai!" He snapped irritably.

"It's true though, isn't it?" She smirked. "What a loser."

He threw a cushion at her and it hit her square in the face. "You son of a…!" She took it and lobbed it right back at him but he managed to duck out of the way.

"Oh, so you wanna fight, huh?" He grinned viciously.

"Don't be ridiculous. If I were to have a fight with you, you'd get owned." She stuck her tongue out.

"Oh?" He raised an orange eyebrow unbelievingly. "How's that?"

She shrugged. "Maybe it has something to do with being brought up in an orphanage. You had to watch your back in that place."

"You were brought up in an orphanage?" He asked in puzzlement.

She nodded. "And it was a rough area too. Fights were commonplace." Why she was sharing this information with this man was unknown to her. But she'd taken a liking to him. She felt she could trust him. He was a bit of an idiot at times but his nature was that of a good person. She just had this…feeling that he wasn't the average guy.

"Hn…guess I best be on ma guard, huh?" He grinned.

"Yeah, you better." She grinned back. It was almost…relaxing, being around this guy. Aside from his face, something about him really reminded her of Kaien. Kaien-dono had always treated her like an equal, nothing more nothing less and this guy was the same. She felt like she was…at peace in his presence. And it was strange because she barely knew him.

He finally put the TV remote down and settled into the couch to watch what was on. She turned to look too. He was watching a popular comedy which had just come out recently. It was about a camping enthusiastic family and the show was always set in the woods or some field where they'd made camp. Rukia didn't have time for TV but she'd seen it a few times. She didn't see the appeal.

Ichigo yawned widely and rested his head on the back of the couch, on his entwined hands. His eyelids pulled down over his brown irises. She watched him silently. She'd noticed that whatever his facial expression, the frown was always in place. It gave him a kind of sinister appearance but the orange hair wasn't that threatening. And his attitude wasn't really that threatening either. He was just an idiot and nobody found an idiot threatening. Nobody found an idiot attractive…

…And if that was the case, why did her spirits lift whenever she thought about him or saw him? Why did her heart start to pump just a tiny bit faster? Was it really because he looked like Kaien? But the two were completely different! But she found all his little quirks and habits funny. She was entertained by him. She found him a little…cute (odd as that sounded, coupled with his appearance).

"Oi, Ichigo," she said suddenly.

"Hn…?" he sounded like he was asleep.

"You wanna go…" she swallowed deeply, wondering what the hell she was saying so suddenly, "you wanna go watch a movie sometime?" She hoped he really was asleep; he wouldn't have heard her properly. What was she doing?! This was insane! Aside from the usual conventions (i.e. the boy asking the girl, not the other way around), she didn't have the time to have a…a boyfriend! That was crazy! She was a businesswoman!

"Hn…?" He muttered sleepily. She breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't heard her. She was about to say something but he opened his eyes and lifted his head. "Eh?" He blinked. "As in a date?"

She felt her cheeks go warm. "Urusai!" Her embarrassment made her a little irritable. "Who'd wanna go out on a date with you?"

He cocked an orange eyebrow. "Ho? Is that why your face is like a tomato?"

"Urusai!" She repeated. "I meant as friends."

"Oh, so I'm your _friend_ now?" He smirked. "How nice." His voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Wh-what's with that?" She stammered. "But if you'd rather not, then I'd understand."

"I didn't say anythin like that." He harrumphed. "I'm jus quite sup'rised that _you_'d call me a friend."

"What's with that?" She huffed. "Is it cuz my name's Kuchiki?"

He shrugged. "Probably."

Involuntarily, she smiled. At least he was honest. She had to respect that. She liked honesty. Not many people who associated with the Kuchiki family were honest. They would all class themselves as "friends" simply because they'd get something out of being seen with a member of the Kuchiki family, maybe social status or recognition. It sickened her. People were so shallow sometimes. Ichigo's frankness was like a breath of fresh air.

"So, would you come?" She asked. "As friends."

He thought on it awhile and then shrugged again. "Sure, why not?"

* * *

As you might have guessed by Karin's "best friend leaving her behind" and her not being content with any other guy, Hitsugaya is definitely gonna be in this...and definitely as a love interest for Karin, but there ain't gonna be much focus on them, regrettably. This was orginally Ichigo an Rukia's story anyway so I wanted to keep it at that. So sorry for any of you peeps who were originally readin this story for HitsuKarin :( hate losin readers but oh well. By the way, I'm still gettin the feelin no one's readin this :(


	5. The Movie

Huzzah! I've been rushin like crazy today to finish this chapter. I can't remember when it was, maybe yesterday or the day before, I was thinking "I've got plenty of time! I can chill!" I was still takin it easy until I remembered it's Wednesday. Time flies by so fast! I have no idea where my days go! It's not fair. I suck majorly at time management :(

Anyway, thank you to all the readers who responded positively to the changes. Your reviews made me to happy ^_^ And, .you I apologise. I know "m" and "w" are nowhere near one another. I have no idea what kind of typo that was :D I was rushing last week too...oh, and angelic93, please don't be breaking any laws by reading this fic. I wouldn't want to be a bad influence ;)

* * *

"We better not be going to see some chick-flick." Ichigo grumbled. "I'll murder you."

"Careful," she said teasingly, "you don't wanna be caught saying that to a Kuchiki." She grinned.

So he took to glaring at her instead. She was in good spirits today, he'd realised. It had been three days since she'd asked him if he wanted to go see a movie. He'd been asked to pick her up from her friend's place and she'd been waving ecstatically from the door. After he'd gotten over to size of the mansion, he'd had a few words with the buxom, blond, Matsumoto. She'd winked and told him to have Rukia back before midnight. And he'd yelled at her for being presumptuous. They weren't on a date, after all! Rukia had said herself that they were here just as friends. Besides, why on earth would he have an interest in someone who kept punching him for no reason at all? She was a hazard.

"Anyway," she said, "I dunno. It's just called Pure Intentions. I don't know what it's about. Rangiku recommended it. I don't have the time to check out these kinds of things."

"Hn…" he wondered if he'd heard that same somewhere before. He was sure he had.

"_Hey, Karin, there's a movie out called Pure Intentions! It's supposed to be a romance. Let's go see it!" Yuzu cried enthusiastically, turning around so that her back was facing the computer screen that she'd been pouring over a minute ago._

"_Baka," Karin sighed. "Are you out of your mind? That's not something siblings should go an watch together!" _

"_But why not?" Yuzu muttered. "I wanted to go to the cinema. It's been ages."_

"_Then choose something else. They won't say it on the website but that's a dirty movie." Karin huffed in exasperation._

_Eh…?_ Ichigo froze as the memory came back to him. _D-dirty movie_?

Rukia noticed him tense up and looked back at him. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," he muttered. It was probably just a bit too gushy for Karin…maybe. He hoped. He really didn't want to be stuck watching something like that with his "friend".

As they walked into the cinema, he noticed that a lot of eyes came to rest on them. "Sheesh, people are so rude these days," he muttered dryly. He glared at anyone who caught his eye.

"Well, that's cuz Kuchikis tend to draw a lot of attention in such a common place." Rukia explained with a sigh.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes at her explanation. "They're totally starin at _me_ cuz I'm so hot." He grinned.

She snickered. "In your dreams."

She refrained from getting any popcorn, just settled for a carton of orange juice. He cocked an orange eyebrow. "That's it?" He asked.

"What's it?" She asked.

"You know, it's good to get fully involved with the immersion experience." He held up his popcorn and drink in demonstration.

She shrugged. "I don't feel like it. I ate before I came anyway." She bought nachos anyway. "Happy?"

He shrugged. They went into the specified theatre and found some decent seats. Ichigo couldn't help but notice that all the people present to watch the movie were couples. He had a really bad feeling. Maybe he should bolt now, while he still had the chance?

The trailers took forever to finish and then the movie began. It didn't start on a very good note. The screen faded in from black as the name of the distribution company came up. The camera did a panning shot of a bedroom and there were sounds of a man and woman going at it. The bed was creaking and there were moans and the sound of kisses.

Rukia froze beside him. He didn't dare look at her, though he couldn't even if he tried because his eyes were glued to the screen. He could feel his face going hot.

"Shit…" his friend muttered angrily beside him. He carefully edged his eyes away from the screen and looked at her for a brief second. She was looking down, a scowl on her face. He tried to bow his head too but he couldn't help looking up. Well, all guys were free to be a little interested in this stuff, right? It wasn't his fault there was a naked woman lying there!

Rukia's fist, a little belatedly, smashed into the side of his skull when she caught him staring blatantly. He turned his head to face her again, ready to defend himself. Her face was a mess of veins which looked like they were about to rupture. "We are leaving." She ground out. She stood up but he pushed her back down.

"No way, I paid to watch this so we're staying." He huffed. "Besides, how many of these scenes can there be in this movie? It's just a one-off, most probably."

She looked like she wanted to argue but she settled down anyway. The opening scene came to an end a minute or so later and the title of the movie came up. He soon found out the answer to his question; lots and lots. The story was centred on a sex-obsessed couple. And then the man was interested in some other woman and the duration of the movie followed his changing attitude from the moment his wife found out to when they made up again and the other woman was expelled from the picture. The movie's main attraction was, no doubt, the scenes with nudity. The story wasn't that great, as evident from the disapproving murmurs around the wide room throughout the film.

Ichigo and Rukia didn't even know what to say to one another when it finished. They hadn't even so much as looked at one another through the duration of the film. Rukia hadn't even looked up from her nachos, which had remained uneaten on her lap. The carton of juice which she'd bought was sat unopened in her hand. There was awkward silence as they left and then walked back to his car.

Ichigo started the up the vehicle and left the car park. It felt so weird. He had a feeling if he looked over at her, his face would go red. He didn't know why. For her sake (because she had punched him a few times during the first half hour), he'd tried to look away whenever the scenes with nudity came on, but he _was_ a man, after all. He couldn't help it! Images from the movie (of the woman, obviously) kept playing in his mind and he tried to shake them loose.

"I am _so_ gonna kill Rangiku," Rukia finally muttered irritably.

He cocked an eyebrow but didn't look at her. "Why's that?"

"She totally did this on purpose!" The girl exclaimed. "She thought it was a date, even though I told her it wasn't!"

"Hn…" he didn't know what to say so he kept silent. It was kind of embarrassing now. He'd gone to see such a movie with a girl he barely knew! If Keigo heard of this, he'd pat him on the back and say "I'm so proud" with a teary expression. Ichigo felt a shudder creep up his spine. He wasn't trying to win Rukia's favour or anything. He couldn't care less. She'd said herself that he was a friend and he had no reason to believe otherwise…but that movie was most definitely _not_ something one should watch with a friend!

"To Rangiku-san's place?" He asked. He made the mistake of looking over at her and the images from the movie ran through his mind again. What would she look like if she'd been in place of that woman…? She was so small and so delicate. The woman in the movie had been quite tall, with a nice, curvaceous form, but not really elegant. Rukia had a sort of grace about her, even though she spoke quite roughly and she punched him frequently. Her body would be so dainty and appealing…

_Whoa!_ He thought as he forcefully shoved the images aside. He nearly slammed the breaks but he managed to control himself, though the car did wobble a little.

Rukia frowned. "What was that?"

His face felt so hot. What the hell had he been thinking something like that for?! That was stupid! "N-nothin…" he tried to feign casualness but his voice was just a little bit higher than it should have been. He didn't dare look at her again, for fear of embarrassing himself once more.  
"Hn…" she sounded suspicious but she didn't pursue the matter. "Yeah, drop me off at Rangiku's."

He drove tensely. His shoulders were hunched. He wouldn't relax until she got out of his car so he drove fast.

She noticed his eagerness. "Are you okay?" She asked in puzzlement.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied gruffly. He didn't mean to sound so rude but his imagination didn't want to stop and it was taking a lot of willpower to keep those almost-criminal thoughts and images away. He didn't want to see that! He barely knew Rukia; he most certainly didn't want to imagine what she looked like without any clothes on! It made him a little excited (which was typical for men, he reasoned) but, overall, he almost cringed in horror. She was his friend, wasn't she? He wasn't the kind of guy who thought about his female friends that way! It really was almost criminal!

He stopped in front of Matsumoto's place, glad that he'd remembered the way without a hitch. He'd never been here before today so he'd relied on Rukia's directions through the phone. "I guess…" he muttered as he jerked up the handbrake harder than necessary. He kept his gaze off of her. This was shameful. He was being an idiot but it was better than having his self-control shattered by looking at her directly. The movie just wouldn't get out of his mind.

"Yeah, I'll see you later." She muttered, frowning in puzzlement.

"Yeah." She got out of the car and was about to slam the door but he spoke up. "Hey, wait…"

She paused and ducked her head back in. "Yeah?"

He ignored the criminal thoughts. Today had been nothing short of a disaster so he felt he should make up for it. "Sorry about today. Um…you wanna…go again sometime?"

She gazed at him blankly for a while and then shrugged. "Sure…but this time I'm choosin." She grinned.

He smiled too. "Sure thing."

"Ja ne." She slammed the door and ran up the stairs in front of the mansion and knocked on the big wooden door.

He watched her go. Strangely, his imaginings weren't as insistent as they had been before. He could finally relax. He had just been an idiot. If he'd tried to expend a little more effort, he wouldn't have ended up a complete fool. He waited until Matsumoto had opened the door and then put the car into gear. Matsumoto and Rukia both waved at him and he put his hand up in response before driving off.

* * *

"So, tell me what happened!" Matsumoto said excitedly. Rukia shut the door and turned around to glare at her friend.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" She yelled.

"What did I do?" Matsumoto said innocently.

"I can't believe you would recommend such a disgusting movie when you fully knew we weren't on a date or anything of the sort!" Rukia huffed angrily and stalked past her friend. Even as she spoke, the anger was draining out of her. She went to slump in a settee in the massive drawing room.

"I honestly thought the storyline was good." Matsumoto thought.

"I'm not talkin about the freakin storyline." The dark-haired girl grumbled. "You did it on purpose."

The buxom woman sighed and flopped down beside her. "Come on, I know you like him. I thought it might help to, ya know…ease up the tension." She grinned.

A vein popped in Rukia's forehead. "You idiot. There wasn't any tension in the first place but that stupid movie sure as hell created some."

Matsumoto sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean? Did he react negatively? Was he different after it?"

Rukia sighed. "Yeah. He sorta kept his distance…and then he looked at me real closely one time and hit the brakes a little harder than he should have." She frowned in puzzlement, wondering what had been going through the doctor's mind at the time. And she didn't really see how he'd been the one who'd been most uncomfortable in the car. He was a guy, right? She had figured most guys were perverts and he'd had his eyes glued to the screen during the nudity scenes. So why had he been the one who'd been most uncomfortable?

Matsumoto's eyes widened a little in realisation and then a wide grin spread across her face. "Haha, he was thinking about you naked. I'd bet anything on it."

The Kuchiki girl frowned. "Why would he do that?" Though if she thought about it, it was pretty clear. His face had been a very unhealthy red. A vein popped in her forehead. "That little pervert! HOW DARE HE?!?"

Matsumoto continued to laugh. "Relax. He's a guy, after all. Besides, I'm sure he was a little repentant, if he's a good guy."

Yes, Rukia realised, that was why he'd not once looked at her after that, until they arrived at Matsumoto's. Okay, so maybe he wasn't a bad guy after all. But she was still pretty pissed that he'd been thinking of her in the nude. It made her blood boil. How dare he try to imagine her in the position of that woman?! How _dare_ he?!

* * *

For some reason, Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about Rukia. When he lay in bed that night, he wondered what she was doing. He absolutely refused to let the movie bother him. And what did he care what she looked like naked anyway? He was supposed to be an honourable guy! He wasn't the type to ogle at females…in his opinion.

But he couldn't stop thinking about her. Was she sleeping now? She was so cute. _HUH?!_ He bolted upright, alarmed. Since when had he noticed that she was "cute"? He wasn't the type to care about these things. But something about Rukia was so…intriguing. She wasn't typical of a rich girl at all! His fixed view of rich people was completely skewered where Rukia was involved. Sometimes she could be haughty and conceited but most of the time she was just violent. Maybe she let her real personality shine through if she really got to know someone. So, she really did think of him as a friend.

He sighed and lay back down, pulling the duvet up to his chin. He should get some sleep. Tomorrow, maybe he'd phone her and ask when she wanted to go to the cinema next. It would just be an excuse to hear her voice again…was he being an idiot? Since when did he care about her hearing voice?

So, the next day, during his lunch break, he pulled out his phone and rang her.

"Moshi moshi?" The voice at the other end said.

"Yo." He found a grin was blooming across his face.

"Ichigo. What is it?" Rukia asked.

"What, is it a criminal offense to call?" He snorted.

"Not at all. But people usually have a reason."

"Really? I totally didn't know." He muttered dryly.

"Whatever. So, what d'ya want?"

"Just wondered if you wanted to go see a movie tomorrow."

"…Tomorrow?" There was a brief pause at the other end and then she said, "what time?"

"Bout seven?"

"That's…workable…hn, what're we watchin?" Her tone was suspicious.

He grinned. "No need to worry. I looked up the listings." He turned off the computer as he spoke. He had to give accurate information, after all. "There's a movie called "Fighting for Honour", s'posed to be real good. Set in the Edo period, bout a samurai." The only rude stuff in that movie would be when they showed the bad guys in the Red Light District, drinking themselves silly and picking up prostitutes.

"Hmm…sounds all right." She replied.

"Am I pickin you up again?"

"If you could."

"Same place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." There was another pause. "You know, you're halfway sociable when you're on the phone." He smirked.

"URUSAI!" She hung up abruptly.

He chuckled to himself as put the device away. He turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his sister leaning against the doorway behind him, watching him with interest. "Karin, don't do that!"

"I wasn't doing anything." She protested with a frown. "So, how's the relationship with the girlfriend coming along?" She smirked.

A vein popped in his forehead. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"You coulda fooled me." She snorted as she stood up straight and walked off, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her khaki shorts.

He sighed as he watched her go. The girl really needed a hobby. Even football, her favourite sport, wasn't enough to get her out of the house. And she only went to the university on some days. This was really bad. Before, Karin had never been one to stay at home all the time.

It had all started when her friend had moved away, to the richer part of town, a few months ago. Hitsugaya Toushirou and Karin had been inseparable since elementary school. They'd been the very best of friends, held together by a deep love of sports, and even cars. They used to do everything together. People often mistook them for a couple but that hadn't been the case. But Ichigo was sure her standards for the opposite sex had been why she'd failed at maintaining a decent relationship. For her, nobody could live up to Hitsugaya Toushirou. He figured she only had to drive up there or Hitsugaya had to come down here but communication had come to a standstill between them. Maybe she had the same views about the upper-class as Ichigo did. Before he'd met Rukia, he _never_ would have gone there. And Hitsugaya couldn't leave his father alone.

Hitsugaya Kaito had been a good friend of Isshin's but, a few years ago, he'd accepted a job offer from a nobleman, from _that_ part of town. The job had been that of a mechanic, with the added bonus of getting his own place. Kaito had been extraordinary at his job. His love of cars had affected Ichigo a lot in his early years, and Toushirou…and Karin too. During those years, Toushirou had opted to stay behind so that, in his own words, he could "stay at the same school, because I like it here". He'd stayed behind with his cousin, Hinamori Momo, who had gone to the same school as him. But, recently, Kaito's health had started to go down and he'd asked the boy and Hinamori to come to stay with him. Toushirou had been learning to be a mechanic like his father and he'd found a place up there that practiced the same thing. He had no connection to the main part of town anymore.

Ichigo sighed. It was tough to watch his sibling go through that kind of thing. She was a sweet kid (at heart) and she deserved the best, in his opinion. And the best for her was Hitsugaya Toushirou. Maybe he should get in touch with the boy and explain the situation a little. He was sure Hitsugaya would understand. After all, there had been a time when his sister and the boy had been practically joined at the hip.

But he didn't have the number and he couldn't really be bothered expending the effort to find it. Maybe he'd ask Rukia. Maybe she'd find out for him and then he could get in touch with the boy. It sounded like a good plan.

* * *

"That was awesome!" Rukia crooned as they stepped out of the cinema.

"The bit where he got four of the guys in one hit was freakin cool!" Ichigo added.

"I know! And the part where he killed the bad guy without even lookin at him!"

"Man, that was awesome!"

They continued to discuss the movie for a while. The result had been far better than it had with "Pure Intentions" and Ichigo was grateful for that. There was no awkwardness this time round and the events of yesterday seemed like they had happened long, _long_ ago and were of no further consequence.

They hung around town, still on high from the fast-paced action sequences of the movie. They went to the arcade and she beat him in a racing game. He was quite surprised. She had a knack for these kinds of things.

"I figured rich kids didn't go to the arcade." He said.

"I dunno about that. You're just prejudiced." She harrumphed. "And besides, I wasn't born a rich kid. C'mon, I bet I'll win at that dance thing over there!" She took his wrist and dragged him despite his protests to where she wanted to go.

They were like kids in an amusement park. Two hours passed before they decided it was time to be going home. They stopped at a McDonald's Drive-Thru and ordered two cheeseburgers with fries and soft drinks and then parked up at a convenient place and ate.

"This is the best outdoor experience I've ever had!" Rukia said amid a mouthful of burger.

"Dude, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full." Ichigo reprimanded, biting off a large chunk of his own burger.

"Uh-huh, take your own advice!" She scoffed.

"But I've never been a rich kid so it doesn't really bother me. I thought upper class folk were supposed to be more…polite?"  
She shrugged. "I do abide by the expected etiquette…but it's good to be myself every now and then." She smiled.

He grinned. "So this is the real you? I'm sure your brother would never have adopted you into the family if he knew you were like this." He was about to laugh it off but he saw that her jaw tensed up. He sighed, the grin disappearing. "Sorry. That was stupid."

She smiled hesitantly. "Don't worry about it. It's probably true."

He sighed again. "I'm sure that's not it. You're a…" he balked suddenly and turned his head to look out of the windscreen.

She frowned questioningly. "I'm a what?"

He shrugged. "You're a nice girl." He flushed at having to say such a thing, but he was glad it was dark outside. She probably wouldn't see his face go red. But she'd probably punch him for saying such an idiotic thing. People didn't go around calling other people "nice". What value did the word "nice" have anymore, anyway? He could have used others…like pretty, cute, funny, adorable, or maybe even kind. But that was too much! She'd have murdered him for sure!

"Really?" Her tone was strange. Maybe she'd punch him after all.

He turned back to look at her briefly and was surprised to find that she was smiling. He shrugged self-consciously and stuffed the remainder of his burger into his mouth so he didn't have to say anything else.

"Thanks." She muttered after a while. "It's good to know…"

He shrugged again and started to slurp down his drink. After they'd finished eating, he started to drive again.

A red Honda drove past and, for a brief second, he mistook the driver to be his sister. But the hair was too short to be Karin's. Karin's long hair was recognisable anywhere. The twins had tried to keep the same hairdos since they started high school. Yuzu had been extremely fond of the twins having the same of everything at one point. That had changed over the years, of course. The two were completely different, but their hair was still the same length and styled similarly; long and straight. He'd overheard Karin say at one point, some years ago, that her best friend thought her hair was cool so she kept it like that.

_On the subject of Hitsugaya and Karin_, he thought suddenly, _I should ask_… "Hey, Rukia?"

"Hn?"

"You know a guy called Hitsugaya? I'm sure he lives around your part of town." He said, feigning casualness. He looked over at her to see that she was frowning thoughtfully.

"Hitsugaya _Toushirou_…?" She asked in puzzlement.

"You know him?!" He asked, surprised.

She smiled. "Sure I do. He's my mechanic."

He couldn't believe his luck! Was this for real?! He'd expected that he'd have to explain a whole lot more but apparently not! "You serious?!"

"Sure I am. Why?"

"Well…"

* * *

I couldn't resist stickin HitsuKarin in there :D you know I luv em too much, even though I am gettin off the pairing a little. Anyway, they're probably not gonna be in it continuously so...actually, I dunno what's gonna happen with them. I'm hopin that their relationship will boost Ichigo and Rukia's cuz the older two are just too nosy for their own good :D


	6. The Mission

Yo, this chapter is mainly about Karin and Hitsugaya so, sorry if you expected any IchiRuki action :( but their relationship _will_ start to evolve next chapter, I promise!

And I apologise for any silly glitches.

* * *

Rukia didn't actually know where Hitsugaya lived. He was her mechanic; every time she needed his aid, she'd just ring him and tell him to come, but in this case, she felt it would be better to talk one-on-one, at his place.

It was in instances like this that Matsumoto came in handy. She could look up the boy's address for her. Hitsugaya was Matsumoto's mechanic too, though he had a lot less in common with the blonde than he did with Rukia. Matsumoto didn't actively show interest in cars but Rukia did so the two of them would often engage in auto-related conversation.

After she got the address, Rukia headed over. A girl with her dark hair in a bun opened the door and told Rukia that the person she sought was around the back. The Kuchiki girl thanked her and then went to seek out her mechanic.

"Yo, Hitsugaya." She greeted as she walked up to the white-haired boy.

Hitsugaya was stooped over the open front of the car, some tools in his hands. He looked up as Rukia came over. "Kuchiki." He said, a little surprised. "Is there something wrong with your Porsche?"

She frowned. "What, is it a crime to come by and say hi every once in a while?" She asked dryly. She'd gotten the line from Ichigo.

"Not really, but you've never come down to my place before." He shrugged. "What's up?"

She sighed. It sounded quite rude, being so succinct when she was only trying to be polite. Had Ichigo thought it rude when she'd greeted him like that? But Hitsugaya was always like this; he was a very to-the-point kind of person. But it was just as well; she couldn't dither. "Well, you know that guy Urahara?"

According to the info that she'd received from Ichigo about this boy, Hitsugaya hadn't lived that far from Urahara before he'd moved to his father's place. "Yeah…" he said slowly. "Why?"

"Well, you know how he's involved in…the drift scene?" She said cautiously. Of course, Hitsugaya didn't know about her involvement in _that_ world so it meant she couldn't act like she was a veteran, not if she wanted to keep her identity as the Drift Queen a secret from polite society.

"Yeah…" the mechanic thoughtfully.

"Well," she bowed her head, feigning shame, "he kinda invited me to come to a race and…as interested as I am, Nii-sama would never be okay with me getting involved in illegal stuff." Her great acting talent was coming to the fore. As much as she trusted Hitsugaya, she couldn't tell him her secret.

He raised an eyebrow. "And you're tellin me this because…?" He waited expectantly.

"Well, you're into cars an stuff, right? I mean, you know it wouldn't really be right for someone like me to be seen in that kind of place. So, I thought it might be a good opportunity for you, since you always expressed interest in them kinda motors."

"Hn…" the boy thought on it. "I suppose…But how d'you know Urahara anyway?"

She shrugged. "Through a friend of a friend of a friend." She smiled crookedly.

"Right…I dunno, I'll have to get back to you." He bent to his work again, signalling the end of the conversation.

"It's tomorrow night so let me know a.s.a.p."

"Tomorrow night?" He sighed and straightened up again. "Where?"

The next day, in the Kurosaki household, Ichigo was trying to coax Karin into going somewhere too.

"Yo, Karin." He went to lean against the doorway of the twins' room. He wondered how to start off and then just came out with it. "I have a friend who's…shown interest in you." Oh wait, that sounded way too direct.

"Hn…" Karin muttered disinterestedly as she flipped through a book.

"And you know how you're always stuck in the house these days? I thought it might do you some good to get out there for a while, ya know?" He tried to be as encouraging as possible, though he didn't usually like guys anywhere near his sisters. The guys they'd always been into had sickened him a little. Yuzu (sweet, unassuming _Yuzu_!) had once gone out with the leader of a biker-gang! Karin, in the second year of high school, had dated a local bully. Hitsugaya had disapproved, as had Ichigo, but neither of them had said anything.

"Hn…

"He's a real cool guy. He's a big fan of soccer too."

"Is that right…?" She didn't sound remotely interested!

He pulled out the trump card. "He's good friends with your ole buddy Toushirou."

She bolted up at that and fixed him with an unwavering gaze. "Really?" She then realised her tone was too hopeful and then cleared her throat and she shrugged. "So what?"

"_So,"_ he sighed, "are you up for it? It's tonight."

Her dark eyebrows furrowed in thought. After a few moments, she shrugged again and said, "Yeah, I suppose it's all right."

* * *

"Karin, c'mon!" Ichigo yelled from downstairs.

"Yeah, yeah." The dark-haired girl sighed as she stomped down the stairs. "Remind me exactly why you're givin me a lift." She stuck her foot in her trainers and did up the laces, feeling quite excited but not showing it. She was going to meet somebody who knew Toushirou! She'd get to ask how her old friend was doing!

"Because I told the guy I'd have you there by eight." Her brother replied. "Now, c'mon. Oh, and bring your soccer ball."

"Why?" She frowned and straightened up.

"I dunno. Just do it."

For some stupid reason, he stuck a blindfold over her eyes after she got in the car. She'd never known her older brother to behave so strangely! What the hell was with this? But she played along anyway. He said it was so that she didn't see the location. She wondered briefly if she should be worried. Her hands were tightly clutching her soccer ball.

Meanwhile, Rukia was driving Hitsugaya over. He'd questioned why he had to be driven there and she'd replied that she'd wanted to have a quick word with Urahara and she'd be in the vicinity awhile so she'd give him a lift back too. He hadn't been sure how to respond to that. She was behaving rather oddly today…well, not that he knew her enough to know whether this was her usual behaviour, but he was sure it wasn't. She'd never driven him anywhere before. And their interactions had always stayed within the bounds of employer/employee. This was really odd. But he was playing along, because he rarely got to see a rich person acting to weird. Maybe he'd tell Karin about this, since Karin held a somewhat loose prejudice towards the upper-classes.

As always when he thought of his former best friend, he felt glum. It had been nearly five months now and he'd not had one phone call from her. He'd often contemplated going over there but if she hadn't called then maybe she didn't want to stay in touch anymore. He'd moved to a part of town that she disliked. Maybe she now disliked him too, for mixing in with those kinds of people…even though that was kind of petty. But Karin's thoughts and intentions weren't always predictable. He sighed.

"You okay?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." He replied monotonously. But not all rich people were bad. He didn't actually mind Kuchiki Rukia. Maybe it was because she'd not been born an aristocrat or whatever. And she didn't talk half as much garbage as the rest of them, like that blond friend of hers. Matsumoto Rangiku did not have an off-switch. He'd taken to avoiding her every time they had the misfortune to meet (though this wasn't helped by the fact that she was a client too; he was the mechanic of both Rukia _and_ Matsumoto). Did she _never_ shut up? What the hell was wrong with that woman?

"We're here." Rukia parked up suddenly.

He frowned as he looked around. It was an empty, dull street with the steep rise of a hill on their left. "Eh?" He looked around in puzzlement.

"Up there." She pointed up the rise of the hill beside them.

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. This wasn't a trick, was it? There was no possible way a race could be going on over there. He knew that because he'd lived in this part of town for the better part of half his life. There was merely an abandoned field over that hill, where the ground levelled out; he used to play soccer there with Karin and a bunch of their friends, ages and ages ago. "What's with this?" He turned to face his driver, his usual frown in place.

"There _is_ something going on over there." She replied with a smile. "You have to go. You won't be disappointed."

He looked doubtful. "And what _exactly_ is going on?"

"I'm not at liberty to say." She shrugged easily. "Suffice to say that this, I'm fairly sure, will be far better than a race…for _you_."

What the hell did that mean? "You lied to get me here." He accused.

"That's neither here nor there," she scoffed, waving a hand dismissively, "now go."

He contemplated on whether he should listen to her. _Better than a race, eh?_ He thought doubtfully.

"C'mon, you know you can trust me, Hitsugaya." She sighed when he didn't make a move. "I give you my word; it's not a hoax."

She looked solemn enough. He sighed. "I'm probably wastin my time." He opened the door and stepped out.

"You're not. I promise." She said resolutely. "My car'll be here for two hours. And if you finish before that, gimme a ring."

Over on the other side of the vacant field, Ichigo received a prompt call. Karin couldn't see him; she had to keep her blindfold on until he said otherwise. They'd been waiting for about five minutes now. She was getting kind of fed up.

"Yeah?" Ichigo said. A pause. "All right." He clicked off his mobile and got out of the car. He came to stand at her door and helped her out. "All right. It's time." He said.

"I feel like a disaster is approaching or something." She replied gloomily.

She could tell he was grinning. "Don't worry. You'll thank me for this."

She'd been excited but wearing a blindfold so long had dimmed down her expectations. "If you say so." She said dryly. He took her wrist and started walking. The floor beneath her feet was soft, not like the hard concrete that she'd been expecting. She clutched her ball tightly in the crook of her free arm.

"All right. I'm givin you two hours, okay?" Ichigo said.

"All right."

He let her go abruptly. "Remove the blindfold in a minute."

She sighed deeply but consented. "All right." Why was she playing along with this? Did the person she was going to meet have an odd fetish or something? This was just plain weird!

As Hitsugaya walked onto the brow of the hill, the first thing he saw was his former best friend's brother (recognisable by the distinctive head of natural orange hair) rushing towards him. "Yo, Toushirou!" He grinned as he approached. "Long time no see!"

"Kuro…" Hitsugaya began but the doctor whizzed past him without slowing down.

"We'll catch up later! Have fun!"

Hitsugaya stared after him, one eyebrow raised at the odd behaviour. Was it him or was everyone going bananas today? Much to his surprise, the man climbed into the front passenger seat of Rukia's car. So, they knew each other, did they? His instincts told him they were cooking something up.

He sighed. What did he care what they were doing together? It was none of his business. He turned to face the vacant field again, still pretty sure he was wasting his time but he found that it wasn't completely empty…

Karin had finally begun to feel like an idiot. She'd heard her brother's soft footfalls on the dirt ground as he'd run off and, somewhere in the distance a few seconds later, he'd shouted out a greeting to someone so she'd finally pulled the bandanna down to let it rest about her neck and she'd stared.

Her brother had said that the person that she'd be seeing today knew Toushirou. That part had certainly been true. Even though she was standing at one end of the field and he was standing at the top of the hill at the other end, the shock of white hair was unmistakeable. "T-Toushirou…!" She gasped.

And then she was running, eager to get to him as quickly as possible, dropping her ball in the process. "TOUSHIROU!" At about the same time, he yelled out her name and he began to race down the hill towards her too, suddenly thrilled. "Kurosaki!"

Unexpectedly, they met in the middle of the field and embraced. They'd never embraced in the past. It was a little desperate…and suffocating; her arms were practically choking him and his arms were crushing her waist. But it was a good feeling…because, for years, they'd never dared come too close to one another because of certain…feelings that they'd been ashamed to let on. Only, neither of them had known that those feelings had been mutual…

"Kurosaki…" Hitsugaya muttered softly. His heart was trying to leap out of his chest.

"Toushirou…" she muttered tearfully. Kurosaki Karin didn't cry but…just this once, she let a few tears loose.

"Whoa, you're crying." He muttered when he broke away. He looked at her concernedly.

"I know. I'm an idiot." She smiled through her tears and rubbed them away. "I missed you."

His features relaxed into an easy smile. "I missed you too. You wouldn't believe how much." He couldn't believe this! He was finally seeing his best friend again!

She could feel her heart rate speeding up just by seeing that smile. He hardly ever smiled sincerely. Usually, they'd always pull pranks on one another and he always smirked when he managed to get to her. His smirks were so mischievous. "Why didn't you call?"

He shrugged and looked away. "I was waiting for you to call. I thought…since you don't like that part of town and stuff, you were mad at me or something."  
"No, no, course not." She shook her head. "I just…don't like going up there, ya know? That bastard Maekawa really pissed me off, ya remember?"

"Ah, yeah, the source of your prejudice." He smirked.

"Can't blame me," she said sourly. "The asshole always went around sayin shit like "well, in the upper classes, we d not do things in this way…we are far better than you because we have all the money in the world…we are far too stuck up our own arses that we don't give a toss about what's really important"" She scowled as she thought back on it. Hitsugaya laughed at her impression of their old classmate.

Maekawa Ichirou had been from the rich part of town which Karin hated so much. He'd looked down on everyone in their class…and in their school. Back then (or rather, throughout her academic life) Karin had been the alleged protector of the class (though her tough demeanour had often made her classmates fear her) and she'd not liked the way he'd spoken of her fellow students so she'd punched those chubby, red cheeks of his. He'd complained to the teachers, of course, which resulted in Karin being suspended from school for a month. (It was probably around then that her father started to call her a delinquent.)

They'd had to endure him up until the final year of high school, and throughout their shared academic life, she'd held a deep hate for the spoilt, rich brat. Her prejudice had arisen from this person. And the reason that she refused to go up that part of town was because Maekawa lived there but she wasn't sure exactly where. She'd told Hitsugaya if she ever saw him again, she'd beat him to an inch of his life…it was a very serious threat and she didn't want to get in trouble with the authorities.

"True," Hitsugaya sighed. He'd had his own share of problems with the rich, fat boy. "Anyway, to hell with Maekawa. How're you doin?" He reached for her hands, surprising her. He was suddenly nervous.

She swallowed, sure that there was a blush on her cheeks. She didn't blush often. "I-I'm good." She smiled. "But why didn't you come down…during the first few weeks? I was waitin…I mean, I understand that you figured I dint call cuz I dint wanna hear from you," she snorted in incredulity. As if that could ever be realistic possibility. Was he completely unaware of the effect he had on her? But then she could be good at covering up her real emotions…just like him.

He sighed morosely. "I was kept busy. Dad's health is pretty bad, ya know. And right after me an Hinamori moved up there, we had to do a lot of work. Even granny's not doin so well now."

He looked so upset. She gently squeezed his hands. "I'm sorry to hear that." She mumbled. She was well-acquainted with his family. She'd known them for ages. Yuzu and Hinamori had been good friends, even though the latter was a year older than them.

He smiled. "But we'll manage." He mumbled. He let go of one of her hands and pointed to the ball she'd dropped. "For now, what's with the soccer ball?"

She grinned as she walked towards it, pulling him along. "Ichi-Nii told me to bring it." She frowned in puzzlement and turned to face him. "Did you talk to Ichi-Nii about meeting me here?"

He frowned too and shook his head. "No. Kuchiki told me there was some event going on and she drove me here."

She looked suspicious. "So they both lied. I wonder what they're up to. Ichigo said that one of his friends was interested in me or something and that this friend knew you." She looked thoughtful for a while but then shrugged.

He let it drop too. Not that it matter; he was finally with his best friend! "So, I take it you guys know Kuchiki?" He asked.

"She comes over every once in a while. She's a friend of Ichigo's. _You_ know her?"

"Yeah, she's my client."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "What, you in the auto industry already? You can't have your qualifications yet."  
He grinned smugly. "The guy my dad used to work for found my standard as good as my dad's so he hired me at first but then he recommended me to Kuchiki. That guy an her are pretty good friends or something." It had been hectic up there for the first few weeks. The switching of employers had been a difficult task (as in, some people [Kuchiki Rukia] were too obstinate to hire an employee who didn't have any qualifications as of yet) so he'd had to prove himself and show that his skill was worthy. It was lucky that Ukitake Juushirou was a good man and gotten him a job though.

"Yeah?" Karin absorbed the details patiently. He didn't often talk about himself so she had always listened closely every time he did.

"Uh-hmm…he was a weird guy…but not really like the snobby type. His name's Ukitake. And for some reason he was always givin me food…candy…" He frowned in puzzlement.

Karin laughed. "Sounds like a nice guy."

"He's a _weird_ guy." He corrected matter-of-factly.

She smiled. "But nice all the same. Glad people have been taking care of you up there…" her voice trailed off into a whisper as she caught his eye and held his gaze steadily.

And, without seeming to notice it, they stopped walking and turned to face one another properly. They were still holding hands. The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy…with some kind of anticipation. What would it be like, they both thought, if…

He bent his head down and pressed his lips against hers after a thoughtful second or two. Was he doing right? He didn't want to jeopardize their friendship! But their friendship had been nonexistent these past few months anyway! But they'd gotten over that!

But, if being apart for almost half a year with no communication had kept their friendship intact, then one small kiss would not screw everything up! Besides, he'd always had his suspicions about whether she might like him more than just platonically too, but he'd never mustered up the guts to test this theory out.

Even so, he was still surprised when she wound her arms about his neck and attempted to draw him in nearer. He took her by the waist and crushed her against him and the kiss started to border on desperation. He nearly bit her lip.

"I-I really like you…Toushirou…" she mumbled breathlessly when they finally broke away. Her cheeks were flushed incredibly. She'd never felt so elated after being kissed by the other guys that she'd gone out with. It was as she thought; no other guys could surpass Toushirou. He was the best at everything. No one else even came close…

"Hmm…" he smiled as he kissed her cheek. "I like you too…Karin." He'd have liked to say something just a little bit stronger than that but he'd wait. She pulled back a little to stare at him in surprise. "What is it?" He asked.

She shook her head as a wide smile broke out across her lips. "You've never called me Karin before…it feels nice." And it did. She'd never felt her heart thudding so hard just because someone had called her by her name. Really, ordinary things seemed almost magical when Toushirou was involved.

Over the brow of the hill, Ichigo and Rukia watched. When Hitsugaya and Karin kissed, they simultaneously pumped their fists. "Mission accomplished!" They both grinned and gazed at one another to avoid looking at the couple. Ichigo's gaze bore into Rukia's and she stared right back. The grins faded but they continued to stare at one another. Until Ichigo's growling stomach made them instantly look away. Ichigo turned around and made his way down the hill and Rukia found that a blush was colouring her cheeks. She was glad it was night. She followed him down.

"I'm sure those two would want a little privacy. Let's go get something to eat. There's a ramen shop near here." He said as he walked off.

"Sure." Rukia caught up to him. Both were tempted to look at the other but they didn't. It was awkward.

Back on the field, the ball that Karin had brought along was finally being utilised. The two-player soccer match was on.

* * *

Just to be clear; Hitsugaya _is_ himself, he's just more friendly around Karin so, please, no complaints about the guy bein OOC.


	7. The Move

The ball shall start rolling properly next chapter. I know I said the action would start this chapter, but it's not, so I'm sorry :(

But enjoy anyway! At least their friendship's a little firmer now :D

* * *

Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about her, for some stupid reason. Every time he closed his eyes, she was there, her dark orbs looking intently at him. Ever since the day they've decided to play matchmakers for his little sister, Rukia had constantly been on his mind. The memory of that intense little gaze, following the realisation that their plan had been successful, was burned into his mind.

It was probably for this reason that he tried to keep from looking at her too long…at least, when she could look back. He couldn't take his eyes off her when he was sure she was facing the other way. He was becoming obsessed.

Two weeks passed. The drifting lessons continued every Sunday but there was always an awkwardness in the air. It was probably for this reason that the comical fights increased. Oftentimes, when he was being an idiot or otherwise made mistakes, she knocked him hard on the side of the head. Those moments weren't awkward at all and he couldn't say that he didn't purposely act like a buffoon to get hit more often. If it made her feel any more normal around him, he would gladly let her beat him up…and this realisation was a bit of an eye-opener for him.

He noticed that she suffered as he did. But what did that mean? Maybe she knew something was going on with him and she knew what it was so it made her uncomfortable? There was no way she'd feel like he did because he could remember what she'd said that other time, when they'd finished his first drifting lesson. "Me? Your girlfriend? Please!" She had meant it in a joking way and it hadn't bothered him because, back then, he'd had no interest in her whatsoever. But he was sure she'd still react that way…maybe a little less patronising because she wasn't a horrible person (despite the pretences that she sometimes put up).

He wondered what she'd say if he confessed. "I really like you." He'd say seriously. And then she'd looked really ill-at-ease and reply with something like, "um…thanks…I think. But…I'm sorry…I don't feel the same way." He knew her enough to know that she'd never intentionally try to hurt someone. She wasn't that kind of girl at all. She really was a nice girl…at heart.

He sighed. Thinking of all this wasn't going to do him any good. He didn't want to put her in any kind of awkward position so he decided he wouldn't make it obvious that he felt this way. After the first two weeks following their "mission", he hadn't been able to rein in his emotions so he'd struggled and the awkwardness had built up to the point that he'd gone days without hearing from her, calling her, or seeing her (besides in their weekly lessons). But that would change now. He cared about her feelings and her comfort too much to want her to suffer because of him. He was infatuated.

To take his mind off Rukia a little, when he was at home, he decided to occupy himself. Since the majority of his Sunday mornings was free and he whiled away the hours watching dreary old movies and stuffing himself full of junk food, he decided to try something new. He went apartment-hunting.

…Well, it wasn't strictly "new" because he always looked into it from time to time, in the hopes that he'd find a decent place. But in the past, he'd had no luck at all. As his family never failed to mention; he was twenty-three and still single and at home. He had realised long ago that it was past time he got his own place.

If he were to move out, it would have to be somewhere close because he still had to work at the clinic. He could pay for an apartment without any problems; he earned a sizeable amount from his current job.

But maybe he didn't want to leave his family...or he didn't want to leave his sisters, more precisely. He'd always been there for them and he liked to think that they relied on him…at least a little. Ever since their mother had died, Ichigo had been the one to look after them. He'd been equally responsible in their upbringing as Isshin had been.

But he could still have his own life without his family peering over his shoulder all the time. How refreshing that would be! And if he moved somewhere close, he would still be able to see the girls every day, outside of work.

He drove slowly, looking around to see if any of the apartment buildings had any signs up that declared that they had free rooms. He figured it'd be easier to get the details sorted and then tell his father. Isshin, despite his teasing, would create a ruckus and Ichigo wasn't particularly in the mood for the man's theatrics. Besides, he probably wouldn't find anything right away. He'd give this some time. All he was doing now was scouting around to see if he liked the neighbourhood in which the apartment buildings were located. Everyone seemed busy here and there wasn't much parking.

After half an hour of no luck, he got bored of it, like he had on all the past occasions. What was the rush? Sure he was twenty-three. So what? He had plenty of time. He was still young. When he actually met someone he liked (he put a lot of effort into not thinking about Rukia), he'd get the details sorted then, right?

But then he felt guilty. The whole idea was to be independent. He was the one who wanted to move out; he should be more committed to the idea. In the other occasions when he'd thought of moving out, his limited patience hadn't let him see his plan through properly. He had to be responsible about this! Pretty soon, Yuzu would find a guy who she'd want to stay with for the rest of her life and then Karin, despite her tough-guy attitude, would follow suit. They would be moving on with their lives and he'd still be stuck at home. It was depressing.

So, suddenly a little more motivated, he continued on. He went out a little farther than he'd have liked but, after a while of searching, he did find one apartment that looked promising. He got the details for it and managed to get a look around while he was there. He was in luck; it hadn't been out for lease long and there hadn't really been other people enquiring about it.

After he was done, he headed back home, grateful for his good luck today. He'd give it some time and then, if he was positive that this was all right, he'd mention it in a few days.

And now he just had to concentrate on his drifting lesson, which would take place later today, so that he could finally see Rukia again and get to drive in another cool car.

* * *

Although it had been a little more uncomfortable between them since the last two weeks, Rukia still looked forward to the drifting lessons; it was the only time that she heard from Ichigo or saw him at all, a fact which made her a little upset but she hadn't been able to pluck up the courage to ring him, or pop around his house.

When she showed up, he was already waiting by his car. She took a moment to just stare at him (because she couldn't do that when she was sitting with him, since the air always felt so heavy) as she pulled up in front of him.

She had good news for him today, if he didn't already know. He walked up with a grin in place as she scooted over to the front passenger seat. The door opened and he hopped inside. "Yo." He said. He gazed at her for a few brief seconds and then turned to face forward again, the grin still in place. "So, everythin good?" He asked conversationally.

"Yeah…everything's good." She replied. "Shall we get started?"

"Sure, sure," he put the car into gear and then immediately drove off. She gave directions on where to go.

"So, anythin new?" He enquired after a moment of silence.

"Not…really," she replied. This conversation, like the ones they'd had in the last lesson, was strained. He was making a conscious effort to be normal but it wasn't working. She was kind of stupefied that this had all been brought on by a single look. It was insane that a few seconds of staring into one another's eyes could do something like this! The friendship that she'd been building with him seemed very weak at this point in time. But they'd recovered from seeing a disgusting movie; couldn't they just get over this silly little thing too?! But she was too cowardly to be the one to make the first move. He was the guy; shouldn't he broach the subject first?

Or maybe they wouldn't need to broach the subject. They could just go watch another movie or spend some time together. Possibly the only reason why they felt so uncomfortable had been because they hadn't tried to ignore the stupid "incident". And it wasn't even really that much of an incident! So he'd looked at her! Big freaking deal! What was so upsetting about that?!

...Only that she couldn't take his brown eyes out of her head now, and they always wore an expression of intensity, and a little joy. Whenever she pictured his eyes, his expression was always the one he'd had after their moment of triumph in matchmaking. How she loved those eyes…

He attempted light conversation all throughout their lesson, interrupted in between by the stupidest jokes that she'd ever heard. As due, she smacked him if he said something particularly idiotic but he grinned all the same. He was such an idiot sometimes. She really had to wonder how he held a degree in medicine. Weren't doctors supposed to be real smart? Who the hell would put their lives in the hands of the man sitting beside her? She would never understand that. Maybe he was a different person during work. She'd have to see that.

"Anything new with you?" She asked after an awkward pause. Silence was never good when they were together like this. At least his idiotic tendencies built up enough frustration in her that she just _had_ to smack him, forgetting the atmosphere. Silence brought about doubt and bashfulness and she couldn't stand not being sure of herself.

He shrugged. "Not really. I might move out soon."

She picked up on a topic of possible casual conversation. "How come?"

He snorted. "You know; the usual. My old man is itchin to get me out of the house. He don't mind living with the girls but I'm a problem."

She frowned. "Why's that?"

He shrugged again. "Dunno. I don't think he hates me or anything…and he's not serious when he tells me that I need to grow up but…" his dark eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"But…?" She encouraged.

He sighed. "I'm probably bein stupid. He's not the typa guy who holds grudges against people but…maybe he _does_ blame me for what happened to mom."

Abruptly, she sat up a little straighter. How on earth had the conversation progressed to this? Weren't they just talking about him moving out to his own place? But she was interested all the same. She'd only asked about his mother once (in the beginning, during her first visit for dinner), she'd gathered that he didn't particularly want to talk about Masaki (she knew the name was Masaki because there was a huge memorial poster of a pretty woman with long waves of strawberry-blond hair – the same woman in all the family photographs on the fireplace – in the Kurosakis' entrance hall which read "Masaki Forever").

"_So, Ichigo, what was your mom like?"_

_Ichigo's gaze, which had previously been turned to the TV, flickered to the framed pictures sitting on the mantle above the fireplace and then back to the TV again. His eyes hardened. "She was nice." He replied simply in a clipped tone._

"_So, where is she?" She asked brightly, hoping to relieve some of the tension._

"_Dead." He said tersely._

_She thought his tone was a little rude but she didn't comment of it. It seemed like a touchy subject. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." She said sympathetically. He merely grunted in response._

"What happened to her?" She asked quietly.

He glared unblinkingly out of the windscreen, his hands tight on the steering wheel. "June 16 1994, my mom an I were out shopping. It was a school day but I was still recovering from a flu epidemic that had been going around. But I was well enough to go out an about though and I got special treatment." He scowled as if it were a bad thing. "We'd been on our way back home when I saw something in one of the shop windows. I ran to look at it. It must have been a brand new game or something." His skin was white across the knuckles and he gripped the steering wheel tighter still.

"At that moment, there was a car chase going on. A bunch of hooligans were playing around, showin off their cool motors and they were practically having a race in broad daylight, with people everywhere. The cops weren't far behind them. Maybe it was because it was rainy that day or because of the driver himself, but one of the cars lost control and skidded over the pavement, going for the shop that I was stood directly in front of. I was rooted there, watching the front of the car that was about to crush me but my mom ran at me and she pushed me out of the way and took the hit h-herself…" his voice cracked on the last word and he hit the brakes hard as his entire frame started to shake.

It was lucky that they were driving along a blank road. There was nobody else around. Rukia was at a loss. She kept so sorry for him. She made to stretch her hand out to put it on his shoulder as he leant his elbows on the steering wheel and buried his face in his hands, but it quickly let it drop. His shoulders were still shaking but there were no sounds of sobs coming from him. "I'm…sorry," she mumbled, feeling out of her depth. She'd never comforted someone before and she'd never thought she'd have to do anything like that with this guy, of all people. He was a strong person. She could feel that. If she'd been able to sense auras, she was sure his would have been solid, unmistakable.

"Don't worry about it." He said from behind his closed hands. His voice didn't make it sound like he'd been crying but it did sound hoarse, rough. The shaking came to a stop and he took his hands away and ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "Damn…you'd think I was a little baby or something." He joked feebly. "It's been twelve years already and I still feel the same every time I think about it."

_Twelve years_, she thought bleakly. Where did time go? It had only been about two years now since Kaien and his wife had died in a car crash too. "Not at all…" she muttered.

After another minute of silent contemplation, he put the car into gear and began to drive again. His features were grim.

"You were right, you know." She said after a while.

"About what?" He asked, glancing at her briefly. He still looked sombre.

"You _are_ being stupid. There's no way your dad would hold your mother's death against you." She felt certain of that. The rather enthusiastic Kurosaki Isshin, who was certainly more of an idiot than his son, was too warm-hearted to bear such a grudge against his own child. "There's no way he'd want you to move out because of that."

He looked like he wanted to argue. He opened his mouth to do so but she glared at him. He clamped his jaw shut and waited expectantly for her to continue.

"Your father doesn't seem to be that kind of person." She went on. "To imagine that he'd actually blame you for an _accident_ is absurd! If he wants you to move out, I'm sure it's purely down to the fact that you're an idiot." She folded her arms across her chest, looking proud of her thesis.

A vein throbbed angrily in his forehead. "URUSE NA, OCHIBI-CHAN! Who asked for your stinkin theories anyway?! You ought to be lucky I'm the one drivin! I swear…"

As his violent, empty threats continued, she felt a sense of satisfaction. He didn't look quite so down anymore. Being miserable didn't suit him. She liked it better when he grinned in that carefree way of his.

When the lesson grew to a close (with no tension in the atmosphere whatsoever, for which she was glad), she brought up the news that she'd been waiting patiently to tell him. "There's a race on in three days. You wanna come?"

He was undoing his belt buckle but he paused and stared at her with his usual frown. "Where is it?"

"The same place as last time." She replied. She had her own personal reasons for wanting to go. That bastard Grimmjow might be there. She had an issue to resolve with that man.

"But the cops showed up there." He pointed.

"So what? It's not a fixed location; races happen all over town. And we'll be gone at the first sign of trouble." She grinned, excited. "I'm not going to be participating this time so I thought you might like to come with me. It's been ages since I watched a race."

He sat back and gazed out the windscreen, his eyebrows pulled together in deep thought. "Wednesday, eh? Hn…it might be a bit of a problem to get away from the old man, as usual, but I dunno what else to say…and then the girls will get suspicious, like they always do…though I'm sure Karin knows already…"

Was he talking to himself or her? She was confused but she listened to his musings patiently.

"Guess I can move out before then." He seemed to have reached a conclusion so he turned to face her and grinned. "Count me in."

"You really have no life, you know that?" She said blankly. "You actually have to worry about your siblings getting suspicious when you go out."

He must have been thinking exactly the same thing as her when he said, "hypocrite."

"What's that mean?" She huffed.

"Oh, like you're not worried about your brother finding out about the things you do." He taunted.

She harrumphed but didn't reply. He had a point. She started to wrack her brains for decent excuses for Wednesday night…

* * *

He thought hard about it all day the next day. He wanted to move out as soon as possible. But then his family would kick up a hell of a fuss if he asked them first. He wanted to avoid that so he got the details sorted out first.

The flat was in good condition and, better yet, there was no phone in it as of yet so at least Yuzu couldn't keep calling every five minutes! Once, he'd taken his mobile with him to a school camping trip and his youngest sister had literally called him every few minutes. "Just checking whether you're still alive," she'd said tearfully as he answered. He'd turned the device off after an hour of this. Yuzu would make the perfect housewife…and mother, he realised. She was a very capable person in the house.

After everything was sorted, he got down to (discreetly) packing his things. If he could move out before Wednesday, it would be better. He wasn't really that good at lying (mostly because whenever someone required his opinion, he gave it without holding back, whether it was offensive of not) so he couldn't believe that his family _honestly_ swallowed the untruths that he blurted out when he went to go watch a race.

Of course, Karin knew better no matter what he said but she wasn't an issue. An active robbery could be going on next door and even if she had a phone right next to her, she wouldn't do anything.

Though he said that, the dark-haired girl was a little more aware of her surroundings these days. No doubt the return of one Hitsugaya Toushirou had put things in perspective for her. She was so much happier as of late and if she wasn't out with Hitsugaya somewhere, she was on the phone with him constantly. So maybe Karin would be too engrossed in Hitsugaya to notice that her brother would be lying and going off to another race. It made him feel a little better.

Yuzu wasn't a cause for concern; she was a complete pushover…if told the right things. If he told her he was going to spend the night in a hotel with Rukia alone, she'd probably forcefully kick him out the door to get him going. Shame that that would never actually happen though…Oh, well.

Tuesday at breakfast, he brought the subject up. He'd get ready to move his things as soon as he finished work. He'd already been out yesterday to get the key to the place. He wondered how he should broach the topic.

"Um…I'm moving out." Well, subtlety had never been his strongpoint.

The chattering at the dinner table immediately came to a stop as three pairs of eyes turned to look at him in confusion.

"…What?" Isshin finally asked, blinking like an owl.

"I'm moving out." Ichigo repeated with a shrug. "I mean, I know you're all getting real sick an tired of me hangin around here so I'm getting the hell out."

"B-but…Onii-chan!" Yuzu wailed.

"What?" He asked, a little bewildered by the tears that suddenly ran down his sister's cheeks. "What'd I do?"

"You need help packing?" Karin said a little too enthusiastically.

He narrowed his eyes. "why?"

She shrugged innocently. "I've been wantin my own room since forever."

"Does that mean you don't like sharing with me?" Yuzu asked tearfully, turning to her sister.

"Of course not, Yuzu!" Isshin cried, jumping into the conversation with gusto. "Ignore the delinquents!"

"Oi! Who you callin a delinquent?!" Ichigo and Karin growled at the same time and kicked their father beneath the table.

"Oof! I am slain…!" Isshin cried out dramatically as he slumped onto the table, his face getting buried in his bowl of miso soup. Karin laughed delightfully. Yuzu still looked bewildered by the news of her brother moving out and her sister's displeasure at having to share their room. Ichigo let his head fall into his hands in exasperation.

But he had to admit, he would miss all this…just a little. Maybe he could still come over for breakfast and dinner. It would be too bad to let go of the little idiocies of mealtimes in the Kurosaki family home. At least this way, they still felt like a family, even though Masaki, the essential core, wasn't around anymore…

His heart twisted painfully as he thought about his mother and he recalled the lesson yesterday when he'd blurted everything out to Rukia. She'd been so supportive. Her sympathy had been unexpected. It made him smile.

* * *

Good news for Irresistible fans! I'm getting on it and once I've got the first fifty pages or so, I'll put it up. I started that from scratch too :D It's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better!

And thank you to everybody who took their time out to actually review my story. It really means a lot to hear your thoughts on Drifting and I'm so pleased that everybody's given positive feedback so far ^_^


	8. The Competitor

Man, I been working on this all day! I'm tired! Anyway, hope y'all enjoy! And...er...sorry for any mistakes. I've been working on it so long that when I tried to proofread, I thought "WHAT THE FUCK?!" and just uploaded it as it is, eh heh heh, do forgive me if the mistakes are that dire, which I'm sure their not. All the mistakes I make are due to editing sentences halfway and being stupid enough to type in words that I completely didn't mean to be in there, for example, I'm thinking "let" and I write "way" instead. Dunno, dun ask O_O

Anyway, yeah, as I said, enjoy!

* * *

"Hi!"

Ichigo blinked a few times as he opened the door, unsure of whether he was still sleeping. "Er…"

Rukia's features twisted up into a scowl and she punched him in the jaw. "Idiot, is that how you greet a friend who came to congratulate you on your new place?!" She demanded indignantly, placing her fists on her hips.

"Er…yeah, sorry, come on in," he said as he stood to the side. He was definitely awake now and he wasn't in the mood to yell.

It was Tuesday evening. Karin had had the afternoon off from university so she'd helped move his stuff into his flat while he'd been at work. After he'd finished at the clinic, he'd helped too. Before long, his room back home had been cleared and all his stuff had been put into his flat. He'd been taking a nap after his sister had left when he'd been woken up by a persistent knocking at his door. The reason why he was surprised at Rukia's visit was because he didn't remember giving her his address.

"So, how did you find this place?" He asked.

She turned around in the tiny little living room, looking around. "Matsumoto." She said absently, still inspecting. "It's so drab. You should brighten it up a little."

He shrugged. "Who cares? I can at least call it my own."

Her eyes narrowed. "But what're you going to do when you have to get married or something?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno. I haven't thought that far ahead. Maybe live here for a while as I get together the dough to buy a proper house." He wondered what it would be like to have Rukia as his wife, but then brushed that thought aside. He _would_ get married soon; he'd accepted it without question that he'd have to get with someone someday and start a family. He was a conventional guy…in _some_ ways.

But Kuchiki Rukia would not be the woman who he got married to. She was high-class. He was just a normal guy who had been brought up in a working-class neighbourhood. Despite the meritocratic society that they lived in, his background was far too common for him to be accepted by Rukia's world.

…And what was he even giving this any thought for?! He'd resolved to accept Rukia as nothing more than a friend! He was sure she'd find it easier to be around him if she knew that he didn't think of her in that way. If she didn't like being around him, she'd eventually stop coming to see him. They wouldn't have their lessons every Sunday. They wouldn't get to see any more movies together and he'd never get to say stupid things which got on her nerves…if just being her _friend_ was the only way to keep her around, then he'd limit his feelings.

"So, what kinda girl would you go for?" She asked with a grin as she sat delicately on the edge of the worn old couch. "Any girlfriends in the past that you went steady with?" She seemed oddly interested.

"Er…" he tried not to think that she might be eager for him to be married…to someone else. "…There was one girl in the past…but…I suppose…she wasn't right for me…she was too good for me…" he mumbled, looking off to the side as he leant against the wall facing her.

"Is that right? How so?" Her tone was difficult to place. She sounded disapproving…but he was probably just imagining things.

He shrugged his shoulders casually. He didn't usually talk about his dating history with anybody. It wasn't exactly the best of things to discuss with another. "I dunno…she was just…too innocent…not really my type at all…"

"What was her name?"

"What does it matter?" Wasn't Rukia being just a bit _too_ nosy?

She shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm just curious." She gazed around the room, trying to be casual but there was some sort of tension in the air.

He sighed after a moment or two. "Inoue Orihime. It didn't work out."

She smiled as she turned to look at him again. "Go on."

"Why're you so interested?"

She grinned. "I just wanna hear about your past failures so I can mock you in future, muahaha!" The laugh at the end was supposed to sound sinister but she didn't quite manage it. Her eyes looked too intense to pass it off as some joke. Maybe he _was_ imagining things…

"Ungrateful little midget…" he muttered sourly, cracking his knuckles. She stuck her tongue out.

But he told her anyway. "I only went out with her cuz this other girl I've known for ages, Tatsuki – Inoue's best friend – said I should. It was well into the second year of high school then and, apparently, Inoue had had a thing for me since the first year. Tatsuki was pissed off; she kept sayin 'how dense are you?' I had no idea what she meant until she arranged for a date with me an Inoue. She was…too enthusiastic…" It was all very confusing as he thought back on it. Inoue Orihime had always been one bizarre girl. All the guys in school had been besotted with her but he hadn't really been that interested. He'd later come to develop a close friendship with her and maybe even love her, but not in that way. He'd seen her as more of a sister than a girlfriend.

"So, you weren't interested in her?"

"Nah, not really. I mean, we became real good friends but it was probably just as well that this dork called Ishida transferred in late and she fell for him." He smiled as he remembered. Ishida Uryu, his rival and friend. He'd never said it but he'd been glad that the guy had come when he had; if he hadn't, then Ichigo would have had to break Inoue's heart. And Tatsuki, the self-appointed protector of her best friend, would have murdered him in cold-blood.

He tried to blot out those few weeks of his high school the best he could. He'd always agonised over how Inoue would have reacted to him in following weeks and months if Ishida _hadn't_ come along. According to Tatsuki, Inoue had really, truly loved him. He'd been more than just a little scared by that. They'd barely been going out for two weeks when he'd gotten tired of putting up the charade of boyfriend and girlfriend. Just another week or two and he'd have told her upfront that he couldn't do it, that he couldn't continue to deceive her like that. Ishida was a life saver.

"So, what happened to them?"

"They got married. They live up in Tokyo now."

"Hn…good for them."

There was a somewhat awkward silence for a while. He turned around and went into the shabby little kitchen. Since she'd asked about it, the topic had suddenly given him something to think about; being in love seemed like a freaking chore. Maybe he'd just stay as he was for the rest of his life; going through one-night stands on the odd occasion and living all alone in this little flat.

It was a sad life but it was a life nonetheless. But Rukia was out of his reach so it made him a little depressed to think that every girl that he kissed or slept with in the future would not be her. _Oh, well, them's the breaks_, he thought regretfully.

"What some tea?" He called back over his shoulder.

* * *

It was a big event. The racers were getting prepared to start when the two of them made it.

"Whoa…" Ichigo mumbled as he looked around. There were loads and loads of cool cars around. Even though he'd been to places like this many times, the sights of such extravagant cars amazed him.

Abruptly, he got a smack on the side of the head. "OW! HEY! WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" He thundered as he turned to Rukia (who had come as Riko, dressed with her usual long brown wig).

"Close your mouth. You're freakin salivating." She snorted. "We're not here so you can ogle at girls who dress like they've never heard of modesty." She huffed and looked away, her arms folded across her chest.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous or something?"

"Huh. Dunno what you're talkin bout!" She exclaimed with a little too much force.

He frowned, wondering what was wrong with her. Why should it matter to her if he looked at the other girls or not? It wasn't like she'd care or something. "I wasn't looking at the girls." He said after a few seconds of staring at her with a puzzled expression. "I _am_ here for the cars, in case you didn't notice." Even though it shouldn't bother her who he looked at, he still felt like assuring her.

"Huh. Whatever. Well, you're a guy so I don't expect you'd know what decency means."

"Shaddap, chibi!" He snapped.

"Huh." Was her response as she sped up and walked away.

Many people greeted her and soon a crowd of admirers, both male and female, surrounded her, asking her about the latest events and the newest competition. Some questioned Ichigo too, like who he was and whether he was Riko's boyfriend or did he race. He wasn't sure how to respond so he just shrugged. Rukia caught his eye and smirked. He glared and turned to break out of the crowd.

He went to join the crowd that surrounded the two cars which were about to start racing. One was a black Mazda with red and orange flames on the sides, which said Veilside at the top of the windscreen and below the grille, and the other was a blue Nissan with the black silhouette of a panther on one side.

He was sure he recognised the driver of the blue car. He had blue hair and looked aggressive. His features were twisted into something that looked like a grin but it was too battle-thirsty. Hadn't this guy been the one who'd raced Rukia that other time? The one who'd hit her car and caused her to lose control of her vehicle? That hair was very distinctive. Ichigo felt anger make his heart beat faster. Rukia could have been hurt seriously! What had this man been thinking?!

"Yo, you okay?" He turned about to face her as she came to stand beside him. Her dark eyes were furrowed questioningly, probably wondering why he was glaring. "What's up?"

"That," he said with a sigh, pointing to the blue car.

She looked and after a second, her features hardened. "Grimmjow…" at her side, her hands balled into fists. "I knew he'd be racing today. I meant to have a word with him."

"Hn…wait til the race is over." He advised.

She didn't reply, just went to settle against a stone pillar some ways away and waited for the race to start.

The crowd began to move to the side, giving the cars a wide berth. Two voluptuous women who looked identical, dressed as cowgirls with wide hats and dark shirts and pants that looked like they'd been sewn on, stood back to back some ways in front of the vehicles, holding out one arm each.

"Three," yelled one of them, holding up three fingers.

"Two," cried the other, doing the same.

"One!" Their unified cry was barely heard as the cars sped past. Their dark hair whipped about their faces in the wind created by the passage of the racers.

Everyone cheered, yelling out things like "c'mon, Grimmjow!" or "yeah, take 'im, Takei!" For the most part, Ichigo restrained himself and just watched calmly. Rukia looked apathetic, maybe because she had some beef with one of the competitors.

Everyone moved to the point where the race would end. Rukia's eyes were narrowed the whole time. She expressed no interest in who the winner would be, or the complicated manoeuvres they pulled on the corners or anything. Ichigo had a feeling she just wanted to beat up the dangerous-looking fellow with the blue hair.

From a distance, it looked like the race would end in a draw. But this would change when the two competitors went for the final bend. It was a tight corner; most definitely less than ninety degrees. And the road was a little wet from the light showers that the town had seen earlier in the day. All these elements would work against the competitors. Who would win? What manoeuvre would be best to make a clean cut across the corner without endangering oneself? Of course, the spectators couldn't care less if someone got hurt; they were here to have some fun and if someone got hurt, it just added to the element. Ichigo heard Rukia mutter "I hope he dies".

So, with engines roaring, the competitors came. The wheels of the black car locked in place and the guy dropped his speed just a little and spun around the corner but he skidded just a little too forcefully began to careen off the road and ended up bashing into a wall covered with a thick hedge. A group of people rushed to get the driver out.

The blue car attempted something similar but he cut neatly around the corner and headed for the finishing line. The guy with the blue hair grinned triumphantly.

"Tch," Rukia scoffed.

When the car came to a stop and Grimmjow hopped out, everyone converged on him. It looked impossible to get through that throng but Rukia cleared the way quickly enough.

"Out of my way!" She yelled to the people closest to her. "Get the _hell_ out of my way!"

_Whoa, Kimura Riko sure has a temper_, Ichigo thought dryly as he followed after her. They got through to the front of the crowd fairly quickly.

Grimmjow saw Rukia approaching and his feral grin turned even wilder. "Well, well, if it ain't the Drift Queen! How ya doin, Shorty?"

"Urusai! Bastard!" She went up to him and lobbed her fist at his jaw.

He just took half a step back. His grin faded and his suspicious-looking, blue framed eyes narrowed. "Well, damn! Aren't we a little violent today?" He growled. "What the fuck was that fer, midget?"

"You tell me, asshole!" She hissed back.

The crowd around them had gotten suddenly silent, staring at the woman and the man in wonder. Some looked eager, like they were hoping for a fight and others looked like they wanted to hear some fresh gossip. Ichigo felt very out of place, standing there with the two of them.

"Sorry, I'm comin up blank, woman," Grimmjow said in a tone straining to be civil. He clearly wasn't used to insignificant-looking people standing up to him. Ichigo suddenly shifted a little closer to Rukia, ready to take her side if anything happened. He didn't want her getting hurt.

"It's about the car you wrecked!" She snapped. "You _will_ pay me back for that! You _owe_ me!" She was shaking with anger.

Grimmjow tutted mockingly. "Damn, princess, calm yourself. There's people around."

"Don't you dare mock me, you bastard!"

"Oh? And what're you gonna do about it?" He taunted.

The man was really beginning to annoy Ichigo. Couldn't he just admit that he'd hit Rukia's car and that he'd pay her back? He inadvertently cracked his knuckles by his side, his jaw tight. Grimmjow's blue eyes flashed to Ichigo and then back to Rukia again, his grin unchanged.

"That car wasn't mine." Rukia said through gritted teeth. "If you don't pay for it, I'll make you?"

If possible, the feral grin on the man's face went even wider, "oh? How're you gonna do that, hime-sama?" His tone was annoying. He sounded so arrogant. It pissed Ichigo off.

"Enough wid this shit!" He said, taking another step closer until he was standing right at Rukia's side. "Just pay her back already! This is getting tirin!"

Grimmjow stood up a little straighter, one blue eyebrow raised. "Ho? Who're you, punk? Her boyfriend?"

"Shaddap. Who'd call themselves this midget's boyfriend?" Ichigo snorted. Mistake. "Oof!" He bent over as Rukia's elbow was driven into his gut. "Damn, woman, what was that fer?" He asked, turning on his companion.

"Are you with me or against me, stupid?" She glared.

"Uruse na! Don't be so violent!"

"Then don't say unnecessary things, you idiot!"

"Well if you didn't beat people up randomly then I wouldn't have to say such things, would I?"

"Just keep your stinkin opinions to yourself, strawberry!"

Grimmjow watched the two of them with a confused expression on his face. Finally, though, he got a little irritated and yelled, "Hey! You guys are freakin holdin me up! What d'ya want?"

Rukia huffed. "I've already said, pay me back."

"The quicker you do, the quicker you can go," Ichigo added. He was also getting a little tired. It was very late and he would have to wake up early in the morning and go to work.

"And if I don't wanna settle for a simple payment?" Grimmjow asked. There was a strange gleam in his eye and he looked hungry for battle. It was downright creepy and Ichigo felt himself responding in like.

"Then how about a fight?" He suggested with a feral grin of his own. He cracked his knuckles again. He felt a little on high with the thought of having a fight. It had been months since he'd had to use his fists! These days, since he was a doctor, he tried to heal people instead of hurting them. But he'd always had a thing about fighting; it was a deep-seated desire. Maybe it had something to do with his father drop-kicking him every morning to wake him up, which stretched back all the way to his elementary days.

"Ho? You sure you wanna fight me, punk?" Grimmjow asked, cracking the knuckles of his own fists. His eyes were fevered, looking forward to a fight.

"You bet."

"Then bring it on."

Rukia looked at a loss. She looked from Ichigo to Grimmjow and back again, her dark eyebrows set in a puzzled frown. "Cut it out!" She finally cried. "We're not here to have a fight!" But they didn't pay her any attention. "Come on! Hey! We're not here to fight! Ichigo!" She tugged hard on his arm.

After staring at his would-be opponent, Ichigo sighed and dropped his fists. "Fine then, any other way to settle this?"

The grin did not fade from Grimmjow's lips. Instead, his eyes flickered with some other thought. "If you're that desperate, then how about a race?"

Ichigo balked. "E-eh? A race?"

"You're a racer, ain't ya punk?"

Rukia made to reply in his stead but he scoffed. "The name's Kurosaki Ichigo. And yeah, course I am." Well, he was halfway there, wasn't it? It'd be okay. Rukia looked like she was about to hit him, and hit him hard. She opened her mouth to try to speak again but Ichigo looked back at her briefly and grinned. "What're the conditions?" He asked.

"We race fer pink slips, I suppose. Just make sure yer car ain't some piece of scrap yard shit or I'ma make you look just like it."

"You talk pretty big." Ichigo said casually. "If we win, you give her what you owe and your car."

The blue-haired man pondered on it a moment and then shrugged. "Fine, whatever. Three weeks, the popular mountain pass west of here."

"It's a deal." They even shook on it. Rukia did not look pleased.

They left immediately after that. She didn't speak a word to him. Her head was bowed and she was chewing thoughtfully on a fingernail. He didn't interrupt her thinking.

When they got to their cars, she finally turned to look at him. "We're going to your place." She said with finality.

He frowned. "It's pretty late but…okay."

"Great. Race ya," she grinned and hopped into her motor.

His frown deepened but he followed suit and drove to his new flat.

"So, what's the deal?" He asked as he opened the door and then closed it again after they'd step over the threshold.  
"I'm thinking." She said. "I'm tryna come up with a solution. Touge racing's not something you've done before, is it?"

"The only racing I've ever done is in our lessons."

"Hn, I thought so." She went to flop down on the couch and he went to the kitchen. His stomach had been grumbling for quite some time now. He'd last eaten well before he'd set off for the race.

"You want dinner?" He called over his shoulder.

"You haven't eaten yet?" She asked, surprised. "It's past midnight!"

"I know that. I just…get hungry real quick. I'm preparing some instant noodles. Want some?"

"No, thanks." She declined.

"How about tea or coffee?" He offered as he got out a packet of instant noodles, a microwaveable bowl and a cup.

"Nope."

"Ok, suit yourself." He began to prepare his food, humming to himself as he did so.

He thought over the last hour or so as he cooked. It had all been so sudden! He'd just accepted his first challenge! He was kind of nervous but he wasn't the type of guy who let his nerves control him. Three weeks was more than enough to get the hang of drifting! Besides, he already knew most of what Rukia had taught him anyway. But he'd never been to a touge race before so it might be a bit of a problem.

But who cared? He'd just have to ask Rukia to give him extra lessons. He would win this!

He made his way into the living room with his bowl of noodles and his cup of tea but froze in the doorway. Rukia was fast asleep with her legs drawn up on the couch. She'd taken her wig off and it nestles within her arms.

He smiled and went to set his meal on the table and then went to find a blanket. Since a few bags were still unpacked, he had a hard time locating one so he settled for the extra one he used for himself. He went back and spread it out over her form.

"Ichigo…" she mumbled as she buried her head farther into the padding of the couch. He frowned; what was she dreaming about? He didn't pay it any mind as he went to eat, sitting down on the floor since there was only one couch.

* * *

A few hours later, Rukia woke up in the darkened living room. It took her a while to figure out where she was and how she'd ended up there. _Oh, yeah_…she thought as she sat up. She'd fallen asleep on Ichigo's couch.

Oh! She'd come up with a plan! She hadn't meant to fall asleep! She had to talk to Matsumoto right away! She pulled her phone out immediately and rang her friend. It was only six in the morning but she was sure Matsumoto would answer. Besides, Matsumoto would be a big part of her plan.

She picked up after the fifteenth ring. "Moshi…moshi?" She said amid a yawn.

"Yo, Rangiku! Something's come up! I need you for the next two weeks. You know that little cabin that we got last summer? Would you make preparations to go there? Now."

"Eh?!" Matsumoto was definitely wide away now. "Now?! Why?!"

Rukia rushed through the explanation in a single breath. "Call Urahara for me too, would you? It'd be good if he could come."

"Ok…but…"

"What is it?"

"Where are you?"

"Oh, at Ichigo's place. After the race, we came here an…"

"WHAT?! DON'T TELL ME YOU SLEPT WITH HIM!"

She'd been afraid of that. "No! Shut up. I fell asleep on the couch!" Only then did she notice that a blanket had been draped over her. She felt her cheeks redden in the gloom. Whatever Matsumoto said went unheard because she was imagining how it would have looked. She wondered what the look on his face would have been like…

"…listening?"

"Eh?" She shook her head to clear her mind. "What?"

"I said, are you listening?"

"Oh, um…sorry, Rangiku. I'm just really tired." As she spoke, she realised the words weren't untrue.

"Hn…all right, so nothing happened?" The blond woman sounded glum. Rukia could have laughed. Romances were so corny; how could she be so interested in the love life of another person? They were exceedingly dull.

"Yeah, anyway, we need to hurry. I have to phone Nii-sama too." She gulped nervously. How would she explain this to her brother? Her demand would sound odd to him and then he'd ask questions and she'd lie and since she was so terrible at telling untruths in her brother's presence, she'd stutter and fail miserably. It did not look good.

"Good luck with that." Matsumoto said happily. She hung up and Rukia stared down at her phone with dread. She would have to ask her brother. What if he said no? Then the planning would all be for nothing! She _had_ to be there! She took a deep breath and stood up. She'd have liked to call him on the phone but then she had to go home anyway, to get her things, and he'd still ask her what it was all about.

Silently, she crept out of the little flat.

* * *

And next chapter is where things really start heating up! I know, I know...I've been sayin that for the past three chapters or something right? I'm sorry :'( my priorities are all mixed up so I don't know what the hell's happening :(


	9. The Party

First off, I would like to apologise (very, very, very humbly) for not updating for over a month now :'( believe me, my laziness and lack of motivation lately has been a neverending source of guilt and disappointment for me. I'm supposed to be practicing writing on a daily basis but I've not written anything of decent size in over a month and it's quite depressing I mean, it shouldn't be so hard to meet the (self-set) deadline of one five-page chapter per week, really! I am real disappointed in myself. I'm really sorry, you guys, I've had way too many breaks this year :( I should have been gettin on with this without hesitation cuz, at that precise moment when you think "oh, I'll do it later, for now I wanna do this..." you lose interest. And I think I have lost interest. I mean, of fanfiction in general...or maybe it's just Bleach fanfiction...? Who knows? I never really used to read much aside from HitsuKarin stuff but my "undying" love for HitsuKarin died out long, long ago. -sigh-

And I'd also like to apologise for the shortness of this chapter. I just managed to finish writing the scene I'd felt the story off at (about five weeks ago) and I thought I'd better get it up even though it's not the usual length. I'm really sorry, once again. And I also apologise for any mistakes that you see since I've not looked this over at all.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

"Rukia? What is the meaning of this?" Byakuya sounded tired.

Rukia bowed low before Byakuya's room. She was well aware that the hour was early but he'd have risen soon anyway and this couldn't wait. "M-my deepest apologies, Byakuya Nii-sama!" She said, still bowing. "B-But I just wanted to inform Nii-sama that Rangiku and I are going to be out of town for two weeks or so."

"Ho?" He drawled. "And for what purposes?"

She straightened up but she didn't look at him. Looking at his perpetually apathetic face made her nervous. "Hai…w-we thought it might do us some good to-to go to the little cabin that we bought last year a-and just concentrate on some ideas for the workplace…" she stammered. God, he made her nervous!

She didn't even understand why she was so anxious around him. She could put on any kind of act in front of others but it was different in front of Byakuya. He wasn't even her real brother! Her apprehension around him was completely pointless!

But…maybe it had been brought about by the fact that she was now involved in something which he would surely have frowned upon. He was a nobleman and he was a model citizen; he followed the law very precisely. He reasoned that if the nobility didn't set good examples then who would? He hadn't noticed anything yet but he would surely be upset if he ever found out that she was involved in a sport that happened outside of the law.

"And you truly feel that you have to go out of town for that?" He asked.

She flushed. It hadn't been the best excuse. "H-hai…"

"Don't bother me with such unimportant matters." His voice was definitely cold. Yup, there was no doubt about it. He must really hate her.

Before she could say anything, the door to his bedroom shut in her face. She stood there for a few seconds, feeling sorry for herself, before she turned and walked to her own room, some few corridors away. She had to pack her bags.

She wondered if Ichigo had awoken yet. It would be awesome if she could wake him up in some cruel manner or another. The thought cheered her up immediately and she began to pack her things with gusto.

After having a quick shower and slipping into one of her usual dresses, she grabbed her bag and headed out. Matsumoto should be ready about now. She'd seen her before, when she'd gone to leave her other car (the one she owned as Kimura Riko) at her friend's garage in favour of her black Porsche (before every race, she went to Matsumoto's to switch the vehicles; after all, it would be easy for someone to trace back to number plate to her real name and she couldn't allow that).

"Yo," she said as she pulled out her mobile and rung her friend, "ready?"

"Yup!" Matsumoto answered cheerily.

"Get out now. I'm here." She snapped the device shut and braked outside her friend's front door. She waited impatiently for her friend to come out. When she did, Rukia nearly groaned in exasperation.

Matsumoto was clutching about five huge grocery bags and one suitcase. Rukia sighed and got out to help her. "What's all this?" She asked, bewildered. Though, she probably should have expected it. On all their holidays, Matsumoto had brought more stuff than necessary and lately, since they'd come of age, that stuff had mostly been sake.

"Well, I thought since we're going away for a while, we could have a party tonight!" The blond woman grinned as Rukia took some of the bags from her and they walked back to the car.

"Honestly, Rangiku. Did you bring food? There's hardly anything at the cabin."

"Yup."

"That's good." The smaller of the two smiled. She opened the boot and they stuffed the bags in. "You call Urahara?"

"Yeah. He didn't sound too happy. I think he was half-asleep."

"All right, we gotta hurry."

They sat in the car and drove away from the neat forecourt of the huge mansion, down the long drive, and finally out of the big black gates that signalled the start of Matsumoto's property.

"So, touge, was it?" Matsumoto asked.

"Uh-hmm."

"What is that?"

"It's where you race on a mountain pass, obviously."

"What's so…how's it different from normal racing?"

"Do I _have_ to go into the details? I'm tired!"

"But I'm curious!"

"Go watch Tokyo Drift! You'll see!"

"Movies like that aren't my type at all!"

Rukia sighed and yawned widely. "You'll see." She mumbled. "Ichigo's going to be going through some training at the mountain pass near the cabin."

"Ok."

A few minutes later, they stopped outside Urahara's. He came out immediately. "Good morning, ladies." He said jovially as Rukia rolled down the window. Why was it that Urahara was always jovial? Rukia wondered. It was so early too!

"You don't mind coming with us, do you?" She asked. "I know it's pretty sudden and all but…"

"No need to worry." The man smiled mysteriously. The smile then turned into a discomfiting grin and he held up a heavy-looking bag. "I bought sake!"

"Whoot!" Matsumoto cheered.

Rukia sighed. "Just get in, old man."

After Urahara settled in, after assuring her that the stuff that they would need for their period of training would be provided, she drove to Ichigo's flat. Matsumoto wanted to come in too but Rukia said she'd only be five minutes.

"Ichigo?" She called out when she shut the door behind her. "Hey, Ichigo?"

There was no reply. She hesitated by his bedroom door but then pushed it aside and stepped over the threshold.

She immediately blushed when she saw him. He was stretched out haphazardly across the bed, with the sheet tangled around his legs, leaving his bare torso uncovered. He was surprisingly well built, which wasn't usually apparent through the shirts that he wore.

After admiring his physique for a few long seconds, she shook her head to clear her thoughts and, trying to ignore his half-nakedness, she nudged his shoulder. "Ichigo." He mumbled something and shifted his position a little but otherwise didn't wake. She sighed. "C'mon, Ichigo, time to wake up." She shook his shoulder again, a little more forcefully this time. "Ichigo."

"What…?" He mumbled. "Is it dinner time…already…?"

"Hey, get up." She shook h is shoulder harder and his eyes slowly began to open. She took her hand back.

"Rukia…?" He asked blearily, blinking rapidly to get sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning." She smiled." C'mon, it's time to get up. You need to pack."

He sat up quickly at that. "Pack? What for?"

"Due to the challenge you accepted yesterday, we're going to have to up the training a little so we're going to this cabin near the mountains. C'mon."

"Eh?! Isn't this a bit sudden?!" He exclaimed.

"I know but we need to get in as much practice as possible, under the right conditions. Get your things together. I'll be outside, okay?" She turned around and strode out of the room, leaving a confused Ichigo on the bed staring after her. "Five minutes, or we're leaving without you!" She called back as an afterthought.

Matsumoto and Urahara were having a heated argument when she sat in the car…well, it was one sided, really; Urahara, as always, was polite in his speech (up to the point where he sounded patronising) and he kept his cool. Rukia hadn't _ever_ seen him lose his cool.

They sat in the car waiting for Ichigo to come for about fifteen minutes before the man showed up. "About time!" Rukia snapped as she rolled down the window.

"I had to call my family. Yuzu made a big fuss." He sighed. "Now, can I put this in the back or what?" He asked, holding up the bag that he'd been wearing on his shoulder.

She stared at it blankly for a moment. The length of it was no bigger than her arm. "Is that it?" She asked sceptically. But it was bulging though.

"Don't worry. I did a helluva cramming job." He grinned.

She didn't look convinced but she gestured to the back of the car. "Stick it in and let's go."

It was a noisy ride.

* * *

"Ah, it's been ages!" Matsumoto sighed happily as she opened the door to the cabin and went inside. It was very dusty inside.

It wasn't very big. The entrance was at the left corner of the cabin and beyond it was an open plan living room. There wasn't much in it; just an open plan living area with two sofas, a fireplace, and a coffee table, though the furniture was very fine and expensive-looking. There was a withered plant standing in one corner of the room beneath the window. The window, looking out over the road from which they'd just come, was dirty and there were cobwebs everywhere. In the corner of the little living area was a door leading to the kitchen. Directly opposite where they stood, just inside the little cabin, were the stairs. The stairs started at the corner where two walls met and stretched up, jutting out some ways above the door of the kitchen.

"Nice place," Urahara mumbled, looking around.

"All right, everyone, go put your stuff in the rooms upstairs and then we gotta clean this place up before we can get something to eat." Rukia said as she strode towards the stairs, her bags held in her hands.

"Eh?! No way! I don't wanna clean up!" Matsumoto complained.

"Tough break. We're not living in this filthy place for two weeks." The smaller of the two women paused on the stairs. "If you help out," she said thoughtfully, "then we'll have a small party tonight."

"Wha-hoo!" Matsumoto crowed. "All right, everybody! What are we waiting for?! Let's get to it!" She pushed past Rukia and towed her bags behind her as she rushed up the stairs.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you two guys are going to be sharing the room beside the bathroom while Rangiku and I are going to be at the one at the end of the passage." She climbed up the remaining stairs. "First we clean and then we prepare breakfast."

"What could they possibly have to eat in this place?" Ichigo mumbled, looking around at all the dust-covered furniture and the cobwebs. "It looks like nobody's been here for a long, _long_ time."

"There's a convenience shop near here, a few roads down." Urahara answered as he followed the girls upstairs. After deliberating awhile, Ichigo went after him.

Excluding the combined bathroom and toilet, there were only three rooms upstairs. The room that the two men had been allocated was a small one, probably just four-mat. There was an in-built closet at the side and when Ichigo pulled it open, he saw some foldable bedding. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. At least the electricity was intact and, when he went to the toilet, the plumbing was working too.

"This place is filthy." He said as he went downstairs to join the others some time later. It was much warmer now than when they'd first come in. The fireplace was alight.

"I know. I _did_ tell Rangiku to call for cleaners a few times a year but she forgot." Rukia threw a glare at her friend, who responded with a sheepish grin. "All right, let's get cleaning everyone."

He didn't want to clean up. Why should he? He wasn't the one who had brought this place and not maintained it. "I don't wanna." He harrumphed.

"If you don't clean, you don't eat and I'm not going to get your share of the food." She harrumphed.

His stomach growled at the mention of food. He hadn't eaten anything since his late night meal after the race. He sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll help."

Urahara had disappeared off somewhere. When Ichigo inquired, Rukia told him that he'd gone to phone his assistant to bring the stuff they'd need for practice, which would start the day after. He'd not managed to get decent reception inside so he'd gone out.

_Lucky bastard_, Ichigo thought, looking around at the dusty place. It would take a good few to get this place cleaned up proper.

* * *

As promised, Rukia held a "party" of sorts that night. It began shortly after their evening meal. They prepared a fire in the living area and arranged themselves in a loose circle around it and Matsumoto whipped out the bottles of alcohol. Rukia and Ichigo were the only ones who looked reluctant about it. Ichigo didn't want to go all out in front of people he didn't know. He could hold his liquor for longer than all of his friends combined but he was still apprehensive about getting drunk in front of people he barely knew. He'd gone all out a few times and the results hadn't been good. He did not want to repeat any of those fiascos.

So, when the drinking and chattering and the drinking began, he tried to take one small sip at a time. Rukia was watching him like a hawk. Matsumoto seemed to note the tension. "What's up with you two? C'mon, drink up!" She filled their half empty glasses to the brim, a wide smile on her face.

How much had she drunk up until now? The stacks of bottles in front of her were getting bigger and bigger. Urahara's side was no better. He'd taken his bucket hat off and there was a deep flush on his face and his eyes were glazed over. The two avid drinkers went back to talking animatedly with one another. The topic was the stock market, apparently. However, Matsumoto was still keeping an eye on them.

"She finds it offensive when people don't drink during parties." Rukia whispered from behind her glass when Matsumoto was looking the other way.

"Oh? So what?" He hissed back.

"You don't want to know how scary she can be."

Ichigo observed the buxom blonde with narrowed eyes. How scary could _she_ be? She looked harmless! He was still trying to imagine a scary Matsumoto when she looked over at him…or, more accurately, at his still-full glass. Her eyes hardened and she stared at him accusingly. He hastily picked up his glass and downed it. Rukia smirked but stopped when her friend gazed at her in the same manner.

In the end, Rukia got smashed because Matsumoto was just too observant, even though she'd drunk far more than anyone else had. At first, the dark-haired girl had kept drinking the same amount as Ichigo had but because Ichigo had more tolerance for the stuff, she felt the influence sooner and then ended up disregarding her initial discomfort and began drinking with abandon. Ichigo took the opportunity to leave. Rukia asked him, in a very slurred voice, where he was going and he simply replied "toilet".

A few minutes later, he was sitting in the room that he was sharing with Urahara, after laying out one of the sets of bedding from the closet, playing a game on his mobile phone, when he heard heavy footsteps in the corridor. He'd not wanted to go back down, mostly because he didn't really feel like seeing anyone pass out or vomit (in Rukia's case) or hear confessions of the weirdest kind (like Urahara stating loudly and proudly that he liked to wander around his home after dark in nothing but his wooden sandals).

"Ichi…go…?" Rukia's slurred voice questioned when she stopped at the entrance of his room.

"Rukia…" he immediately stood up and pocketed his device, thinking up excuses as to why he'd not joined everyone downstairs. Her complexion was rather pale and sickly. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

She smiled hazily as she stepped into the room, towards him. A hiccup escaped her lips and she giggled. "I feel great!"

He didn't know how to respond to the girly manner. She wasn't usually like that. She was authoritative and serious, not…_giggly_. It was quite disturbing to see her take leave of her senses. "Er…you look like you're about to…"

"Silly boy!" She chastised with the same giddiness as she stepped even closer to him. He was getting a little weirded out by how close she was. "There's nothing wrong with me! I feel great! I haven't felt like this in forever!" And, so saying, she threw her arms about his neck and, standing up on tiptoe, she pressed her nose against his. "I…I'm going to…kiss you now…" she said fuzzily. Her breath stank of alcohol.

Ichigo kept still. His heart was beating a little faster and, even though he probably wouldn't have minded her kissing him, he wasn't sure if this was right. She wasn't in her right state of mind! If she remembered this tomorrow, then things would get strained between them! He didn't wrap his arms around her.

She abruptly leaned in and pressed her lips against his but before she could do any more than that, she collapsed. "Rukia!" He cried out in alarm, his arms instantly snaking out to catch her before she fell. "Oi!"

She was unconscious. He tried to wake her up but it did no good so, sighing, he picked up her small form and carried her to her own room and laid her down on the closest bed. He watched her for a while before sighing again and retreating to his own room. As he'd half-expected, the other two didn't make it up to the top floor that night. They must have passed out long ago. Not that he minded having the room to himself…it was quite relaxing. Everything was so quite. In the city, it was never this tranquil.

He tried hard not to dwell on the brief feeling of Rukia's lips on his…

* * *

Also, I apologise for any inconsistancies that you may find, dear readers, since I'm such a crappy author that I can't be bothered checking over my work :(at this rate, no one'll buy my books if I ever become published :'(


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